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MEMORIAL. 





^^t^'t^-2>^2fc" 



IM E M R I A L 



OF 



DANIEL A\' E E S T E 11 , 



FROM 



THE CITY OF BOSTON. 



BOSTON: 
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY. 

1853. 



EI 3^0 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 

Little, Brown akd Company, 

in the Clerk's OfBcc of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



EIVEKSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
I'RINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



STEREOTYPED BY STONE AND SMART. 



PllEFACE 



The death of Mr. Webster, mourned throughout the 
Mhole country as a great national loss, fell with pecu- 
liar weight upon the community among whom he had 
so long lived ; and the expressions of feeling which 
followed were proportionately numerous and emphatic. 
The object of the present volume is to gather up and 
preserve, in a permanent form, the various testimonials 
of respect to his memory which were called forth in 
Boston, whether by the City Government, or the vari- 
ous Associations of the citizens themselves. It was 
supposed that such a collection would be valued and 
cherished by the people of Boston and its vicinity, 
and not without interest to the community generally. 
The task of the editor has been little more than that 
of selection and arrangement. The account of the ill- 
ness and death of Mr. Webster was drawn up by 
Mr. Ticknor, from notes and memoranda taken at 

Marshfield at the time. 

G. s. H. 

Boston, December, 1852. 



COXTEXTS. 



PAGE 

Mr. Webster's Last Autlmx at Marshfield .... 1 
Illness and Death 13 

Proceedings of the City Council. 

Proceedings in the Board of Mayor and Aldermen . . 29 
Proceedings in the Common Council 33 

Proceedings in the Court of Common Pleas .... 39 

Meeting at Faneuil Hall 45 

Proceedings of the Circuit Court of the United 
States for the District of Massachusetts ... 73 

Proceedings in the Supreme Judicial Court op Mas- 
sachusetts 123 

Proceedings of the Boston School Committee . . . 137 

Proceedings and Resolutions of various Associa- 
tions. 

Proceedings of the Webster Executive Committee . . . 159 

Proceedings of the Whig Ward and County Convention 161 

Proceedings of Granite Club, No. 1 163 

Proceedings of the Webster Under- Voters 167 

Meeting of the Boston Merchants 169 

Proceedings of the Board of Brokers 171 

Proceeding.-; of the Mercantile Librarv Association . . 173 



c' 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Proceedings of the Mechanic Aj^prentices Library Asso- 
ciation 175 

Proceedings of Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati 177 

Orders of the Governor of Massachusetts 181 

Proceedings of the Bunker Hill Monument Association 183 
Proceedingrs of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' 

Association 185 

Proceedings of the Boston Marine Society 187 

Proceedings of the Sons of New Hampshire . . . .189 
Proceedings of the President and Fellows of Harvard 

College 191 

Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society . .193 
Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and 

Sciences 195 

Funeral 201 

Procession and Services on the Thirtieth of No- 
vember . • • 217 

EULOGT 231 



MR. AVEESTER'S 
LAST AUTUMN AT IMAPuSIIFIELl). 



The following ai'ticle, written by Professor Felton, appeared in the 
Boston Courier of October 20. It was prompted by a presentiment in 
the mind of the writer that the illness, under which Mr. Webster had 
been long laboring, must terminate fatally, and by a wish to prepare the 
public for the great loss that was so soon to fall upon them. On this 
account, as well as from its appropriate tone of thought and feeling, it Is 
here republished. 



, , «(« li ')f' 






1 








MR. WEBSTER'S 
LAST AUTUMN AT MARSHFIELD, 



Thk illnes^j, under Avliich ]\[r. AVelj.ster has siiftered 
at Marshfield, has excited serious ahiriii. The loss of 
this emment and illiistrious statesman at the present 
moment would not only he a heavy calamity to the 
great interests of the country, hut would strike the 
national heart Avith unspeakahle sorrow. At his age, 
the disease, which has greatly impaired his physical 
strength, could Init excite sad forel)odings of the result. 
At all events, the day cannot be far distant when that 
comprehensive wisdom and consummate genius will be 
taken away from us, in the ordinary course of the life 
of man. There is now, however, reason to think that 
repose, and the invigorating breath of sea and laud at 
INIarshfield, Avill restore the health of the great Secre- 
tary, and send him, in due time, back to his post in 
Washington, to close the important questions still pend- 
ing between our government and foreign countries. A 
few weeks longer, passed in the midst of the beloved 
scenes to which Mr. Webster has for so many years 
delighted to withdraw from the cares of public and 
professional life, will, it is earnestly hoped, carry him 



4 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

safely through this annual attack, and strengthen liis 
heart for another winter of strenuous toil in the ser- 
vice of his country. We can ill spare Mr. Webster at 
any time ; but, at the present hour, his luminous intel- 
lect and commanding state smanshij^, and his influence, 
potent for liis country's good throughout the world, are 
needed in no common measure. Let us pray God that 
his life may still be spared, to meet and overcome the 
pressing urgency of our foreign affairs, and to shed 
upon us the light of his calm wisdom for many years 
to come. Whether in office or out of office, the know- 
ledge that Mr. Webster is still among us strengthens 
our confidence that all will be well with the country. 
We know that we can still trust in the powers of an 
intellect that never fell below the requirements of the 
most critical occasion, and a patriotism that never 
shrunk from any labor or any sacrifice, wliieh the su- 
preme good of the country demanded. We have seen 
liim defend the Constitution, with logic and eloquence 
never equalled in parliamentary history, when the admi- 
ration and applause of the world rewarded the great 
achievement. But this is not the hardest task to per- 
form, nor the highest claun to a nation's gratitude. It 
is a nobler duty of patriotism to save the country from 
itself; to protect it from the excess of excited feelings, 
and passions overwrought; to step in between contend- 
ing frenzies, and arrest their heady coui'se before they 
grapple in a struggle to the death; to expose one's 
self to heavy blows on either side ; to fall, it may be, 
between the exasperated parties, and, at the risk of 
temporarily losing every object of personal desire, to 
rescue the commonweal. And this lofty duty of pa- 



LAST AUTUMN AT M.VESII FIELD. 5 

triotism becomes severer when the excesses of che- 
rished sentiments of philantln(»py are to be rebuked, 
and the resentments of warm-hearted, philanthropic men 
and i)arties are to be encountered in checking their 
headlong race, before the safety of the country is fatally 
imperilled. The leading passion of our age, and of 
this part of the country, is enthusiastic devotion to 
the idea of the universal rights and the brotherhood 
of man. We are not content to bide the slow course 
of time ; but inish, with fierce philanthropy, to the 
overthrow of institutions inconsistent with these ideas, 
— running every hazard, and trampling down every 
obstacle, however deeply rooted, that lies in the way 
of the immediate accomplishment of our generous de- 
sires. We despise the wisdom of the paralde of the 
Tares and the Wheat ; we insist on plucking out the 
one, even at the risk of destroving the other. We 

» CD 

chafe impatiently at the restraints which the Consti- 
tution lays upon us, and which seem to forbid our 
eager aspii'ations to right a theoretic wrong. We 
struggle against its refj[uii-ements, and seek, in fine- 
spun reasoning, the pretext on which we may break 
the guaranties our fathers undoubtedly meant in good 
faith to establish. This has been the tendency of the 
abolition and the anti-slavery movement at the North. 
The danger that sentiments, in themselves just and 
flowing from deep sources in the human heart, may 
overstep the bounds of constitutional action, has long 
been a cause of anxiety among men, on whom the 
burden of sustaining the government of the country 
rests. The influence of Mr. Webster's genius carries 
with it a hea^^ responsibility, as to the direction in 



6 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

which that influence shall he exerted. Ordinary men 
may ride their hohbies, and the world look on with 
indiflerence ; they may declaim commonplaces of sen- 
timental philanthropy, with all the comfort of knowing 
that the course of events will not be in the least 
affected thereby ; they gain with their partisans all 
the honors of devotion to a great cause, with no fear 
of hazardous consequences resulting from the utter- 
ance of extreme or fanatical opinions. 

But this cheap philanthropy of phrases and rheto- 
rical commonplace is an indulgence which men, placed 
by intellect or position at the head of affairs, cannot 
safely indulge in. The strong tendency of generous 
sentiment, when not restrained by prudence, to over- 
ride the prescriptive rights secured by constitutions 
and compacts, the great statesman and guide of men 
must sternly resist, even if resistance expose him to 
slander and vituperation, to the distrust of former 
friends, to the misunderstanding of his motives, to the 
charge of being a traitor to principles which his whole 
life has jdedged him to uphold. Such crises, requir- 
ing the highest order of statesmanship and a moral 
courage that shrinks from no personal sacrifice for the 
general good, — periods when reipublicce solus est sii- 
2)rema lex, — arise in the history of every great nation ; 
and woe to that nation which has not the men of civic 
virtue equal to the peril of the time. This test of 
greatness and statesmanship Mr. Webster has nobly 
dared to stand ; and he has reaped the consequences 
of calumny and vehement attack, made with an un- 
scnipulous disregard of truth, a rutliless contempt of 
the decencies of controversy, in proportion to the great- 



LAST AUTOIN AT MARSHFIELD. 7 

ness of the service, and the ardor of the philanthropic 
passions whose mad career he has helped to arrest. 
The violence of the storm is passed ; the weight of 
character and intelligence in the country is on his 
side ; the verdict of approval has been pronounced 
by a vast majority of the calm and clear-headed citi- 
zens of the United States. Thousands, who thought 
him wrong at first, now see that he was right, and 
lieartily acknowledge the debt of gratitude they owe 
to his firmness and sagacious forecast. The union of 
the States, having been on both sides rudely assailed, 
is again consolidated. Hostile and incongruous fima- 
ticisms may beset the Conservator on this side and 
on that. lie has measured their force, breasted their 
onset, and foiled their purposes of mischief Both 
great parties of the country have vindicated his wis- 
dom, by acquiescing in the patriotic course marked 
out by liis far-seeing policy, for the settlement of the 
most dangerous question that ever menaced the wel- 
fare of the nation. A vindictive pliilanthropy, here 
and there and from time to time, reopens the flood- 
gates of slander, in the vain hope of disturbing the 
great statesman's repose. The firm earth does not 
stand with more unshaken solidity against the racing 
sea, as it roars and beats upon his Marshfield beach, 
than he stands unmoved in the magnanimity of his 
character, and the upholding power of conscious recti- 
tude, looking down upon the ignominious efforts of 
foiled enemies to undermine the grandeur of his posi- 
tion. 

" The Farm " at Marshfield is worthy to be the rest- 
ing-place of its illustrious owner. It is shielded, by 



8 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

;i r:ino-e of beautiful liills, from the violence of our 
north-easterly storms. It has a distant view of the 
ocean, beyond the loAvlands, "svliich every high tide 
overflows. On one side, a wooded promontory juts 
into the sea ; and on the other rises a sloping high- 
land, on the brow of which, in the deep repose of 
nature, his kindred rest in their long sleep, with no 
sounds above or around them but the murmurs of the 
wind through the foliage of the drooping trees, or the 
song of birds, or the solemn voice of the sea, speak- 
ing eternally from its vast depths. The undulating 
surface sweeps up from the marshes and forms a table- 
land, on which the house is built 5 then gently falls 
into a smooth and spreading lawn ; then, by a steeper 
slope, it ascends to the western range of hills, which, 
on that side, shut in the picture, and bound a scene 
of harmonious, j'et richly varied and sweetly contrasted 
beauty. As you look down from these liills, your 
heart beats with the unspeakable emotion that such 
objects inspire ; but the charm is heightened by the 
reflection, that the capabilities of nature have been 
unfolded by the skill and taste of one whose fame 
fills the world ; that an illustrious existence has here 
blended its activity with the processes of the genial 
earth, and Ijreathed its power into the breath of heaven, 
and drawn its inspiration from the air, the sea, and 
the sk}', around and above ; and that here, at this 
momeni, tlic same illustrious existence is, for a time, 
struggling in a doubtful contest with a foe, to whom 
nil iiKii must, sooner or later, lay down their arms. 
Here, Ijut a low weeks since, Mr. Webster was accus- 
tcjmed to drive the transient guest over his estate ; 



LAST AUTUMN AT MARSHFIELD. 9 

visiting his fields, liis ocean shore, his flocks, and his 
herds ; pointing out the prospect, and speaking with 
tender emotion of the sad and happy memories the 
varied views recalled ; conversing with the rustic neigh- 
bors whom he chanced to meet in kind and genial 
tones, and on subjects which he and they understood 
alike ; uttering, from time to time, glorious thoughts, 
suggested by the scene, in language of massive beauty 
and grandeur, which made the moment memorable in 
the listener's life. But this has been in some measure 
interrupted. That noble form, that surpassing strength 
of constitution, have drooped under the protracted ill- 
ness which has withheld him from the turmoil raging 
outside of that secluded spot; the drives over the 
hills, and along the loud-resounding sea, which he 
loved so much, have ceased. Solemn thoughts ex- 
clude from his mind the inferior topics of the fleeting 
hour ; and the great and awful themes of the future, 
now seemingly o|)ening before him, — themes to which 
his mind has always and instinctively turned its pro- 
foundest meditations, — now fill the hours won from 
the weary lassitude of illness, or from the public du- 
ties, which sickness and retirement cannot make him 
forget or neglect. The eloquent speculations of Cicero 
on the immortality of the soul, and the admirable 
arguments against the Epicurean philosophy, put into 
the mouth of one of the colloquists, in the book on 
the Nature of the Gods, share liis thoughts with the 
sure testimony of the Word of God. But no day 
passes that the affairs of the country do not occupy 
his attention. His great mind never applied itself 
with a calmer or more comprehensive grasp to the 

2 



10 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

duties of his department. The intellectual power as- 
serts its supremacy over physical weakness and tedious 
disease, with an unfaltering energy of soul that in 
itself is a stronger argument of its immortality than 
Cicero ever uttered in the majestic accents of the Latin 
tongue. 

These are the dignified pursuits that grace the days 
of suffering passed hy the illustrious statesman of 
Marshfield. The respectful sympathies of the country- 
surround him in his hours of illness, and the prayers 
of good men go up to Heaven for his speedy restora- 
tion. If it is written in the inscrutable decrees of God 
that he is to be recalled from the scene of his earthly 
labors before his work is completed, — if so hea\y a 
bereavement is soon to fall on the American people, — 
may no man have cause to reproach himself that he 
strove to embitter the last moments of so illustrious 
a life by harsh imputations or slanderous speech. 
When Mr. Webster is withdrawn from the scenes of 
this world, the party asperities which have raged so 
fiercely round him will be drowned in the tears of a 
nation's grief; and he who has so far forgotten the 
claims of patriotic greatness as to join in the ignoble 
work of calumniating a long life, exhausted in memo- 
rable services to the country and the age, will bear 
in his heart the burden of an upbraiding conscience, 
and a sense of wrong done to the common benefjictor 
of every American citizen, long after the day of atone- 
ment is passed. For, whatever heated partisans may 
say while ]Mr. Webster lives, hereafter, when the histo- 
rian sliall look back upon the first century of the 
American Ilepublic, the two names which will shine 



LAST AUTUMN AT MARSHFIELD. 11 

with most unfading lustre and the serenest glory, high 
above all others, are Washington and Webster. There 
are men who are remembered only as the revilers of 
Washington ; there may be men who will be remem- 
bered only as the slanderers of Webster. 



ILLNESS AND DEATH. 



ILLNESS AND DEATH. 



Mr. Webster died at Marshfield, on Sunday morn- 



ing, October 24tli, 1852. 



His health, as has been intimated in the preceding 
paper, had failed dunng the summer from his severe 
public labors and from the progress of an obscure 
disease in the liver of long standing, accelerated, no 
doubt, by the shock which his whole system had re- 
ceived when he was thrown from his carriage in the 
preceding May. lie was aware of his decline, and 
watched it with a careful observation; frequently giv- 
ing intimations to those nearest to him of the failure 
in strength which he noticed, and of the result which 
he apprehended must be approaching. Towards the 
end of September he seemed, indeed, to rally a little ; 
but it was soon apparent to others, no less than to 
himself, that, as the days passed on, each brought "vnth 
it some slight proof of a gradual decay in his bodily 
powers and resources. 

On Sunday evening, October 10, he desired a friend, 
who was sitting with him, to read to him the passage 
in the ninth chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, where the 



16 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

man brings his child to Jesus to l)e cured, and the 
Saviour tolls him, " If thou canst believe, all things 
are possible to him that believeth ; and straightway 
the Mlier of the child cried out, with tears, Lord, I 
believe, help thou mine unbelief" "Now," he conti- 
nued, " turn to the tenth chapter of St. John, and 
read from the verse where it is said, ' Many of the 
Jews believed on him.' " After this he dictated a 
few lines, and directed them to be signed with his 
name and dated, Sunday Evening, October 10, 1852. 
" This," ho then added, " is the inscription to be placed 
on my monument." A few days later, — on the 15th, 
— he recurred to the same subject, and revised and 
corrected with his own hand what he had earlier dic- 
tated, so as to make the whole read as follows : — 

" Lord, I believe ; lielp tliou 
mine unbelief." 

Pliilosopliical 
argument, especially 
tliat drawn fi-om tlie vastness of 
the Universe, jin comparison "witli tlie 
apparent insignificance of this globe, has some- 
times shaken my reason for the faith which is in me ; 
but my heart lias always assured and reassured me, that the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ must be a Divine Reality. The 
Sermon on the Mount cannot be a merely human 
production. This belief enters into the 
ver}' depth of my conscience. 
The whole hlstoiy of man 
proves it. 

Daniel Webster. 



ILLNESS AND DEATH. 17 

When lie first dictated this inscription, he said to 
the friend who wrote it down — "If I get well, and 
write a book on Christianity, about wliich we have 
talked, we can attend more fully to this matter. But, 
if I should be taken away suddenly, I do not wish 
to leave any duty of this kind unperformed. I want 
to leave somewhere a declaration of my belief in 
Christianity. I do not -wish to go into any doctrinal 
distinctions in regard to the person of Jesus, but I 
wish to express my belief in his di\ine mission ; " — 
solemn and remarkable words, by which it is plain 
that, having given the deliberate testimony of his 
life to the truth of Christianity, as a miraculous reve- 
lation of God's will to man, he desired, though dead, 
still to bear the same testimony from his grave to 
the same great truth. The monument on wliich he 
intended this striking inscription should be placed, he 
has elsewhere directed should be of " exactly the same 
size and form" with the modest monuments he had 
already erected, within the same inclosure, for his 
children and for their mother. 

On Tuesday, the 19th of October, he was too feeble 
to appear at the dinner-table, and desired that his son 
might take his place at its head, till he should be 
able again to go down stairs ; " or," he added, " until 
I give it up to him altogether." That evening was 
the last time his friends had the happiness to see 
him in liis accustomed seat at his own hospitable fire- 
side. 

Warned by his increasing debility he had already 
given some directions concerning a final disposition of 
his worldly afiairs ; but he now desired that his will 

3 



18 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

iniglit be immediately drawn up iu legal form, and 
the next day lie dictated a considerable portion of it 
with great precision and a beautiful appropriateness 
of phraseology. Some of its directions are very strik- 
ing, not only from their import, but from the simpli- 
city with which their meaning is set forth : — 

" I wish to be buried," he says, " without the least 
show or ostentation, but in a manner respectful to my 
neighbors, whose kindness has contributed so much to 
the happiness of me and mine, and for whose pros- 
perity I offer sincere prayers to God." 

After this, every thing relating to his personal con- 
cerns is wisely and well provided for, and all his 
immediate kindred tenderly remembered. He then 
goes on : — 

"My servant, William Johnson, is a free man. I 
bought his freedom not long ago for six hundred dol- 
lars. No demand is to be made upon him for any 
portion of this sum; but, so long as is agreeable, I 
hope he will remain with the family. Monicha Mc- 
Carty, Sarah Smith, and Ann Bean, colored persons, 
now also, and, for a long time, in my service, are all 
free. They are very well-deserving, and whoever comes 
after me, must be kind to them." 

And then, with the usual legal forms, this remark- 
able and characteristic document is closed. 

The day when the preparation of the will was com- 
pleted — Thursday — was one in which Mr. Webster 
had attended to much public business, besides gi\ing 
his usual careful directions about every thing touch- 
ing his household and his large estate. It was in- 
tended, therefore, to postpone the final signing and 



ILLNESS XHD DEATH. 19 

execution of that papet until the next morning ; more 
especially as his forenoons were uniformly more com- 
fortiible than the later portions of the day. But, in 
the afternoon, his complaint assumed a new and more 
formidable character. Blood was suddenly ejected 
from his stomach. The symptom was decisive. lie 
fixed an intensely scrutinizing look upon Dr. Jef- 
fries, — his attending physician and personal friend, — 
and inquired what it was? He was answered that it 
came from the diseased part. " What is it ? " he re- 
peated with the same piercing look, and then, without 
waiting for a reply, added, " Thai is the enemy ; — 
if you can conquer t/ud" — he was internipted by a 
recurrence of the attack, but his mind, it was obvious, 
was already made up. lie knew that his time must 
be short, and that whatever he had to do must be 
done quickly. 

He determined, therefore, at once to execute his 
will. It was made ready and brought to him. He 
ascertained that its provisions and arrangements were 
entirely satisfactory to the persons most interested in 
them, and then, having signed it with a larger bold- 
ness and freedom in the signature than was common to 
him, he folded his hands together, and said solemnly, 
" I thank God for strength to perform a sensible 
act." In a full voice, and with a most reverential 
manner, he went on and prayed aloud for some mi- 
nutes, ending with the Lord's Prayer, and the ascrip- 
tion, "And now unto God the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, be praise forever more. Peace on earth, and 
good will towards men;" — after wliich, clasping his 
hands together, as at first, he added, with great em- 



20 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

phasis, — ^^Tliat is the happiness — the essence — Good 
zvill toivards men." 

Much exhausted with the effort, he desired all but 
Dr. Jeffries and a favorite colored nurse, who had 
long been in his service, to leave the room, that he 
might rest. But, before he slept, he said, " Doctor, 
you look sober. You think I shall not be here in 
the morning. But I shall. I shall greet the morn- 
ing light." 

The next forenoon, he repeated a similar assurance 
to his kind and faithful physician, who, as he thought, 
again looked sad, though he was only overcome with 
fatigue and long watching. " Cheer up. Doctor — 
cheer up — I shall not die to-day. You will get me 
along io-dcujy And so he went on through Friday, 
giving comfort and kind thoughts to all who surround- 
ed him. In the course of the morning, he attended 
to the public business that needed immediate care, 
and gave directions for every thing about his farm 
and household as usual, and, in the evening ■ sent 
for the person w^ho managed his affairs, and directed 
him, with more than his customary exactness, concern- 
ing all arrangements for the next day. 

But when the next day — Saturday — came, he felt 
as he had not felt before. He felt that it was his 
last day. About eight o'clock in the morning, there- 
fore, he desired that all in the room should leave it, 
except Dr. Jeffries, who had been his physician for a 
long period, and who had now been in constant at- 
tendance on him, living in the house, for above a week. 
During tlic night Mr. Webster perceived that he 
had grown weaker by excessive loss of blood from the 



ILLNESS AND DEATH. 21 

stomach. He had just suffered afresh in the same way. 
But when he was certain that he was alone with 
his professional adviser, and that no loving ear would 
be pained by what he should say, he spoke in a per- 
fectly clear and even voice, but with much solemnity 
of manner, and said, " Doctor, you have carried me 
through the night. I think you will get me through 
the day. I shall die to-night." The faithful physi- 
cian, much moved, said, after a pause, "You are 
right. Sir." Mr. Webster then went on: — "I wish 
you, therefore, to send an express to Boston for some 
younger person to be ^vith you. / shall die io-niglit. 
You are exhausted, and must be relieved. Who shall 
it be?" Dr. Jeffries suggested a professional brother. 
Dr. J. jNIason Warren, adding that he was the son of 
an old and faithful friend of Mr. Webster. Mr. Web- 
ster replied instantly, " Let him be sent for." 

Dr. Jeffries left the room to prepare a note for the 
purpose, and, on returning, found that Mr. Webster 
had made all the arrangements necessary for its 
despatch, having given minute directions who should 
go; — what horse and what vehicle he should use; — 
what road he should follow; — where he should take 
a fresh relay; — and how he should execute his er- 
rand on reaching the city. He also desired that pro- 
vision should be made for summoning some other pro- 
fessional friend, if Dr. Warren could not be found, or 
could not come; and, on being told that this, too, 
had been foreseen and cared for, he seemed much 
gratified, and said emphatically, " Bight, right." 

After some repose, he conversed with Mrs. Web- 
ster, with his son, and with two or three other of the 



22 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

persons nearest and dearest to him in life, in the 
most affectionate and tender manner, not concealing 
from them his Adew of the approach of death, but con- 
soling them with religious thoughts and assurances, as 
if support were more needful for their hearts than for 
his own. On different occasions, in the course of the 
day, he prayed audibly. Oftener, he seemed to be 
in silent prayer and meditation. But, at all times, 
he was quickly attentive to whatever was doing or 
needed to be done. He gave detailed orders for the 
adjustment of whatever in his affairs required it, and 
superintended and arranged every thing for his own 
departure from life, as if it had been that of another 
person, for whom it Avas his duty to take the mi- 
nutest care. 

After nightfall, he received at his bedside each 
member of his family and household, the friends 
gathered under his roof, and the servants, most of 
whom having been long in his service had become 
to him as affectionate and faithful friends. It was 
a solemn and religious parting, in which, while all 
around him were overwhelmed with sorrow, he pre- 
served his accustomed equanimity, speaking to each 
words of appropriate kindness and consolation which 
they will treasure hereafter among their most pre- 
cious and life-long possessions. 

During the whole course of his illness, Mr. Web- 
ster never spoke of his disease or of his sufferings, 
except in the most general terms, or in order to give 
information to his medical advisers; but it was plain 
to Dr. Jackson, who was twice called in consulta- 
tion ; to Dr. Warren, who was with him durins: the 



» 
ILIAESS AND DEATH. 23 

last night of his life ; and to Dr. Jeffries, who was 
his constant attendant from the first, that he noted 
and understood every thing that related to his condi- 
tion, and its successive changes. EQs conversation on 
this, as on all other subjects, was perfectly easy and 
simple ; — the deep tones of his voice remained un- 
changed ; — his gentleness was uniform ; — and the 
expressions of his affection to those who approached 
him, and even to those who were absent, but who 
were carefully remembered by him in messages of 
kindness, were true, tender, and faithful to the end. 
No complaint escaped from liim ; nor did he show 
the least impatience under his infirmities, or the least 
reluctance to die. lie felt the A'alue and the power 
of life, and he was full of love for his home, and for 
all that surrounded him there and made him happy. 
But his submission to the will of God was entire. 
He said, on one occasion, "I shall lie here patiently 
until I die ; " — and he did so. But, through those 
w^earisome days, he preserved liis natural manner in 
every tiling, and maintained, without effort, those just 
and true relations between himself and all persons, 
things, and occurrences about him, which through life 
had marked him so strongly and had given such 
dignity and power to his character. 

From the morning of Saturday, when he had an- 
nounced to his attendant physician — what nobody, 
until that time, had intimated — that he "should die 
that night," the whole strength of his great faculties 
seemed to be directed to obtain for him a plain and 
clear perception of liis onward passage to another 
world, and of his feelings and condition at the precise 



24 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

moment when he should he entering its confines. 
Once, heing faint, he asked if he were not then dying ? 
and on heing answered that he was not, hut that he 
was near to death, he replied simply, " Well ; " as if 
the frank and exact reply were what he had desired 
to receive. A little later, when his kind physician 
repeated to him that striking text of Scripture, — 
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow 
of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me ; thy 
rod and thy staff, they comfort me" — he seemed 
less satisfied, and said, " Yes; — but the fact, the fact I 
want;" — desiring to know if he were to regard these 
words as an intimation, that he was already within that 
dark valley. On another occasion, he inquired whether 
it were likely that he should again eject blood from 
his stomach before death, and, being told that it was 
improbable, he asked, " Then loliat shall you do ? " 
Being answered that he would be supported by stimu- 
lants, and rendered as easy as possible by the opiates 
that had suited him so well, he inquired, at once, if 
the stimulant should not be given immediately ; anx- 
ious again to know if the hand of death were not 
already upon him. And on being told, that it would 
not be then given, he replied, " When you give it to 
me, I shall know that I may drop off at once." 

Being satisfied on this point, and that he should, 
therefore, have a final warning, he said a moment 
afterwards, "I will, then, put myself in a position to 
obtain a little repose." In this he was successful. He 
had intervals of rest to the last; but on rousing from 
them, he showed tliat he was still intensely anxious 
to preserve his consciousness, and to watch for the 



ILLNESS AND DEATH. 2-3 

moment and act of his departure,, so as to comprehend 
it. Awaking from one of these slumbers, late in the 
night, he asked distinctly if he were alive, and on be- 
ing assured that he was, and that his family was col- 
lected around his bed, he said, in a perfectly natural 
tone, as if assenting to what had been told him, be- 
cause he himself perceived that it was true, " I still 
live." These were his last coherent and intelligible 
Avords. At twenty-three minutes before three o'clock, 
without a struggle or a groan, all signs of life ceased 
to be visible ; his vital organs giving way at last so 
slowly and gradually as to indicate, — what every thing 
during his illness had already shown, — that his intel- 
lectual and moral faculties still maintained an extra- 
ordinary mastery amidst the failing resources of his 
physical constitution. 

And so there passed out of this world one of its 
great, beneficent, and controlling spirits. As the sun 
rose on that quiet Sabbath morning the expected, yet 
dreaded, event was announced as a public calamity, 
first, by the solemn discharge of minute guns, and after- 
wards by the tolling of bells, over a large part of the 
land — a spontaneous outbreak of the general feeling 
at the loss all had suffered. How heavily it fell on 
the hearts of men in this city, where he was best 
known, and especially wdiat deep grief, mingled with 
bitter recollections of the past, and anxious forebod- 
ings for the future, marked each of the three memo- 
rable days, — consecrated as no three similar days ever 
were consecrated among us, to public mourning, — may 
be partly gathered from the records w^hich this volume 
is intended to collect and preserve. The rest — little 
4 



26 WEBSTER ]\IEMORIAL. 

of which can be recorded — will dwell, among their 
saddest and most sacred thoughts, in the memories of 
all who shared in the moving services of those solemn 
occasions, or who gathered around that peaceful, sea- 
girt grave, and will be transmitted by them to their 
children, as the warning traditions of a great national 

SOITOW. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 



PrxOCEEDINGS IN THE BOARD OF MAYOR 

AKD alder:mex. 



At an early hour of the morning of Monday, Oc- 
tober 26, the Mayor issued an order for a special 
session of the Board, to testify their sense of the 
great loss which the City of Boston had sustained iu 
the death of Mr. Webster ; and to consult as to the 
measures proper to be adopted to honor his memory. 
On taking the chair, His Honor addressed the Board 
as follows : 

Gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen, — I have called 
this special meeting of the Board to perform the pain- 
ful duty of officially announcing to you the death of 
the Honorable Daniel Webster, Secretary of State of 
the United States. He died calmly and peacefully at 
his residence in Marshfield, yesterday (Sunday) morn- 
ing, between the hours of two and three o'clock, and 
the country is overwhelmed with sorrow at this mourn- 
ful event. There are seasons. Gentlemen, when the 
heart is too full for utterance, and this is eminently 
one of them. I shall not, therefore, attempt to ob- 
trude, upon this solemn occasion, any poor words of 
my own, but leave to your good judgment to adopt 



30 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

such measures as may be befitting, to testify the 
deep sense entertained by the Board, and the citizens 
generally, of the great loss which has been sustained 
by this afflictive dispensation. 

As early as practicable after the sad intelligence 
was received here, I caused the bells of the churches 
to be tolled, to announce the event to the people. 

The Chair is now ready to receive any proposition 
that may be made. 

Alderman Ober then addressed the Board as fol- 
lows : 

Mr. Mayor, — I rise in conformity with the prompt- 
ings of my heart, to offer an order for the appoint- 
ment of a committee to report such measures as shall 
be appropriate to testify the great respect and attach- 
ment we all of us feel for him whose loss we now la- 
ment — him whom we have ever regarded as the pil- 
lar of our constitutional liberty and as the friend of 
the oppressed in every nation — whose opinions and 
sentiments will ever shed upon his name a lustre 
which cannot be obliterated. 

"Whereas, His Honor the Mayor has announced to this Board the 
death of the Honorable Daniel Webster, Secretary of State of the 
United States ; therefore, 

Resolved. That this information is received by us with the most 
profound feelings of respect and veneration for the illustrious cha- 
racter of the deceased, and with the deepest grief for the loss which 
has been sustained by the cause of Humanity and true Constitu- 
tional Liberty throughout the world. 

Resolved, That while in common with the whole American people 
we feel the death of Mr. Webster to be a great National calamity, 
we cannot but also feel, that to the inhabitants of this city of his 
early adoption, and with whom for nearly half a century his name 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 31 

and fame have been so closely identiried, this national calamity is 
also a sad domestic bereavement. 

Resolved, That the City Council, in a body, will attend the fune- 
ral of Mr. Webster at Marshfield; that the members thereof will 
wear crape on the left arm for the space of thirty days ; and that 
the same badge of mourning for the illustrious deceased, and for 
the same length of time, be recommended to the citizens generally. 

Eesolved, That a joint special Committee be now appointed, to 
consider and report forthwith, what measures it is expedient for 
the City Council to adopt in further testimony of that profound 
respect and veneration for the memory of Mr. "Webster, which the 
whole community so deeply feel and desire publicly to express. 

Resolved, That the City Council, as the representatives of the 
people of Boston, tender to the family of Mr. Webster their most 
sincere and heartfelt sympathy in this season of their deep sorrow 
and affliction, and that a copy of these resolutions, under the seal 
of the City, be transmitted to Mrs. Webster, and also to the Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

Alderman Reed seconded the Resolutions, and, in 
doing SO, addressed the Board as follows: 

There seems to be little occasion for any remarks 
at the present time, from any member of this Board. 
The news of the death of Mr. Webster is now rapidly 
flying to the remotest extremities of the country, and 
the heart of this nation is at this moment filled with 
the same feelings and thoughts with which our own 
minds are occupied ; and these may, perhaps, be as 
well expressed by silence as by words. 

It seems to me to have been among the most for- 
tunate events of the present municipal year, that Mr. 
Webster received the unanimous invitation of the City 
Council to address his fellow-citizens in Faneuil Hall, 
and that the invitation was accepted by him. We 
have reason to think that this occurrence was highly 



32 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

grateful to liis own feelings, as it was lionorable to 
the City Council and acceptable to the citizens. 

The opportunity then afforded to the members of 
this Board, of presenting their respects to him form- 
ally, will always remain among their most cherished 
recollections ; and the citizens, who were present at 
Faneuil Hall, will tell their children and their child- 
ren's children, that they saw and heard Daniel Web- 
ster. Could we, at that time, have foreseen how soon 
he would leave us, what solemnity, what intensity of 
interest, would have been given to the occasion ! 

The death, as well as the birth, of distinguished in- 
dividuals, forms an epoch in the history of nations and 
of the world ; and I have sometimes thought that 
there was a tendenc}^ in the providential course of 
events, for great men to cluster together in their 
death as in their life. However this may be, the pre- 
sent year will be forever memorable in the annals of 
history, for the deaths of distinguished men, — men 
whose death caused a profound sensation not only 
throughout their own country, but throughout the 
world. I need only mention the names of Henry 
Clay, the Duke of Wellington, and Daniel Webster. 

The Resolutions w^ere here passed with great una- 
nimity. The Mayor appointed Aldermen Ober, Reed, 
Rich, and Cary, a Committee on the part of the 
Board. 

The Board then took a recess, to allow concurrent 
action of the Common Council. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE COMMON COUNCIL. 



The lower brancli of the City Council convened 
shortly after the hour of the upper branch, the Presi- 
dent, Henry J. Gardner, Esq., in the chair. 

On calling the Council to order, Mr. Gardner spoke 
as follows. 

Gentlemen of the Common Council — This special 
meeting of the Council has been convened on a most 
solemn occasion. The letter I hold in my hand, from 
his Honor the Mayor, contains the official announce- 
ment that Daniel Webster is no more. 

Seventy-one years ago next January, in a rude farm- 
house, then the most northerly inhabited by a white 
man in the interior of New England, Mr. Webster 
first saw the light, with no birthright but the good 
name of his father and the prayers of a pious mother. 
His early years were passed amid the wild beauties 
of the mountain district of New Hampshire, then 
clothed in their primeval forests ; his physical pow- 
ers developed by the labors of the farm on that stern 
soil, and his mental faculties quickened by the legends 
and traditions of his paternal hearth. 

In due time, we find him transferred to the vene- 
rable Academy at Exeter, and thence to Dartmouth 
College. After his graduation, he taught school in 
the western part of Maine for a season, and then 
he entered, with liis characteristic assiduity and ardor, 

5 



34 AVEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

on the study of his profession. During a few years 
•we see him putting aside his hopes of fame and pro- 
fessional aspu'ations, to watch the declining health of 
his father, and to lighten or remove the home labors 
that weighed upon him. At that' parent's decease, he 
removed to the then capital of his native State, — 
Portsmouth. Here acquiring fame, wider and wider 
extended every year, he at length was elected, once 
and again, a member of Congress. 

It may be worthy of mention that, during his long 
public life, he was a candidate directly before the 
people but five times, and was never defeated. At 
his first election to Congress, from New Hampsliire, 
and at his first^, too, from Massachusetts, he led his 
ticket very ' largely ; and on his reelection, in both 
instances, and also on his election as a member of the 
Convention to revise our State Constitution, he had 
no organized opposition. So surely does the commu- 
nity pay homage to sui^^assing intellect, when accom- 
panied and graced by purity of private life. 

But it is not needful to trace liim step by step far- 
ther. From his removal to our city, his name be- 
comes historic, — his words and deeds and life are 
household themes. Henceforth the farmer's son, from 
an obscure section of New Hampshire, becomes the 
statesman, jurist, orator, patriot, — at whose words lis- 
tening senates were cominced, whose mind swayed 
the destinies of mighty nations, and at whose death 
a whole country now mourns. 

A great light is extinguished, and the world is the 
darker for it. We had three distinguished statesmen, 
differing in their intellectual tendencies, but towering 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 35 

amid and above the great men of our land j and now 
the last and the mightiest has left us. 

Since most of us came upon the sphere of man- 
hood, we have looked to him in his meridian splen- 
dor with love, and admiration, and devotion. We have 
listened to his words of power, have studied his com- 
prehensive writings, and turned to him, not in vain, 
when doubt and darkness overshadowed the future. 

But it is not we, — not a State, or section, or party, 
— whose loss alone is irreparable ; our country weeps 
her ablest son ; the Constitution, its exponent and 
defender ; the Union, for which he perilled hopes and 
friends, esteem and love, — the Union mourns its warm- 
est advocate. 

It was but yesterday, as it were, that we, as a 
body, saw him and heard him ; heard that eloquence 
which lives now but in memory, and, in a few short 
years, will be historic only. The words of the world's 
great poet apply to him — 

" That, when he speaks, 
The air, a chartered libertine, is still, 
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears 
To steal his sentences." 

But he is gone. The world has poured out its rich 
treasury of gifts upon him, "honors and fame and 
troops of friends," till there was nothing left to halo 
more greatness round the name of Daniel Webster. 

And living thus honorably like a Christian patriot, 
he has died. How great the satisfaction that his un- 
dimmed mind, resigned and calm throughout, leaning 
on that faith we all should cling to, has passed cheer- 



36 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

fully along the final road. He went calm, submissive, 
self-possessed — no duty unfulfilled — earth's greatest 
honors exhausted. 

" No cause for sorrow, then ; but thankfulness, 
Life's business well performed, 
AVhen Aveary age full willingly 

Resigns itself to sleep, 
In sure and certain hope. 
Oh end to be desired, whene'er as now, 

A life of service passed, 
The seasonable fruit of faith 

And good report, — and good 
Example have survived." 

The President having concluded his remarks, read 
the following letter from the Mayor: 

City Hall, Boston, October 25, 1852. 

Henky J. Gardneh, Esq., President of the Common Council. 

Sir — I have summoned a special meeting of the 
members of the Common Council, for the purpose of 
communicating to them the proceedings of the Board 
of Mayor and Aldermen on the melancholy intelligence 
of the death of the Honorable Daniel Webster. 

I respectfully ask your Board to take such measures 
as may be deemed proper, to testify their sense of the 
loss sustained by our city and the country, by this 
alllictive dispensation of Divine Providence. In order 
to announce the sad event, I caused the bells of the 
Churches to be tolled from 9 to 10 o'clock, yesterday 



morning. 



Benjamin Seaver, Mayor. 



The Resolutions were here unanimously passed in 
concurrence, the members of the Council rising, an 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 37 

event of unusual, if not unprecedented, occurrence. 
Messrs. Lawrence, Thompson, Haskell, Hale, Thomas, 
Calrow, and Nicholson, were joined to the Committee 
of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. The Council 
then took a recess. 

SECOND SESSION OF THE BOARD OF MAYOR AND ALDERMEN. 

At the reassembling of the Mayor and Aldermen, 
the following Report was made by Alderman Oder : 

The Joint Special Committee of the City Council, 
who were authorized, by an order of this date, to con- 
sider and report what further measures should be 
adopted to testify the loss this City and our Country 
has sustained, in the recent decease of the Honorable 
Daniel Webster; having attended to that duty, sub- 
mit the following report. 

First. That in addition to the measures suggested in the reso- 
lutions already adopted, the Committee recommend that the halls 
of both branches of the City Government, together with Faneuil 
Hall, be shrouded with emblems of mourning, such emblems to 
remain for the space of three months. 

Second. That the American flag be immediately displayed at half- 
mast upon City Hall, on Faneuil Hall, and upon the flagstaff on 
the Common, and remain during the daytime every day, until after 
the funeral of Mr. "Webster shall have taken place ; and that mer- 
chants and masters of vessels in port be requested to display their 
flags at half-mast during the same time. 

Third. That on the day set apart for the funeral, all public 
business be suspended ; that the citizens be requested to close their 
places of business during the entire day ; that signal guns be fired 
on the Common and on Blackstone Square every fifteen minutes, 
commencing at sunrise, and continuing until the hour fixed for the 
performance of the funeral ceremonies, when minute guns be fired 
for one hour, and during that hour all the bells in the city be tolled. 



38 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

Fourth. That a eulogy on the life, character, and public servi- 
ces of Mr. Webster be pronounced before the government and 
citizens of Boston, in Faneuil Hall, by such individual, at sucli 
time, and attended by such ceremonies as the Committee hereinafter 
recommended to be appointed, shall determine. 

Fifth. That a Committee, consisting of the Board of Mayor and 
Aldermen, the President of the Common Council, and one mem- 
ber of the Council from each ward, be appointed as a Committee 
of Arrangements, with full power to carry into effect the foregoing 
recommendations, and to take such other action in the premises as 
said Committee deem expedient and proper. 

The report was unanimously accepted, and ordered 
to be sent down. Adjourned. 

SECOND SESSION OF THE COUNCIL. 

On the reassembling of the Council, a messenger 
was received from the other branch, bringing the 
above Report, offered by Alderman Ober. After re- 
marks of a brief, pertinent, and eloquent character by 
Messrs. IIobart and Lawrence, the Report was una- 
nimously adopted. 

The President then appointed the following gentle- 
men on the Committee, on the part of this branch, 
mentioned in the last section of the above Report: 

Messrs. Stearns, of Ward 1; Calrow, of Ward 2; 
Bradbury, of Ward 3; Lawi'ence, of Ward 4; Jewell, 
of Ward 5 ; Thomas, of Ward 6 ; Nicholson, of Ward 7 ; 
Haskell, of Ward 8 ; Thompson, of Ward 9 ; Lincoln, 
of Ward 10 ; Hale, of Ward 11 ; and Southard, of Ward 
12. 

The Council then adjourned. 



PROCEEDINGS 



IN 



THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE COURT OF COMMON 

PLEAS. 



At the opening of the Court of Common Pleas, on 
Monday morning, October 25, Hon. John C. Park, 
County Attorney, rose and spoke as follows : 

May it please your Honor — I rise, with your per- 
mission, to make an announcement and offer a mo- 
tion. I do this partly at the request of my friends 
of the Bar, and partly because it is my duty, hold- 
ing the office, for the time being, of Attorney for the 
Commonwealth in these Courts, to notice an occasion, 
on which the Commonwealth, as such, has suffered an 
irreparable bereavement. 

Daniel Webster, the Patriot, the Jurist, the States- 



man, IS no more. 



I rise to pronounce no panegyric, no eulogy ! This 
is neither the time nor occasion — nor am I the man. 
When the avalanche has fallen from the mountain top, 
when the thunderbolt has cleft the forest oak, deep 
silence succeeds the shock; and now the public pulse 
has ceased its throbbings, and holy, silent awe is the 
loudest oratory. Time will be, when we shall awake 
to a full realization of the event; and then eloquent 
lips will pour forth a nation's feelings. 

6 



42 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

How many thousands sympathize in the emotions 
of this hour ! The news, lightning-winged, has already 
IDorvaded the Continent. The fisherman, on the Banks, 
pauses in his toil to echo back the wail, which reaches 
him from the shore. The trapper, in the valleys of 
the Rocky Mountains, catches it, as it rolls across the 
prairies. The industry of the nation feels that it has 
lost its best friend; — and even on the thrones of 
Europe, the monarchs of the Old World tremble as 
they learn that that master spirit, which has wielded 
a moral power over the destinies of nations more po- 
tent than their armed legions or their diplomatic ma- 
chinery, now stands with Prophets of old and Apos- 
tles of truth, in humble adoration before the throne 
of Omnipotence. 

Around us — in our very midst — how every thing- 
speaks to us of him ! Yonder monument to Libert}^, 
baptized in the floods of his eloquence, yonder Pil- 
grim Rock, consecrated by his lips, in the spirit of 
Puritan truth, — the very landmarks and l)oundaries 
of our land, from the bleak Northeast to the sultry 
Southwest, are established under his wise, far-seeing 
guidance. Not a waterfall or cataract in all New 
England, rendered useful to mankind by those dis- 
creet measures which always met his cordial support, 
that did not seem on yesterday's holy morn, to have 
rolled its course seaward ^vith a more subdued and 
plaintive mui"mur. 

The Indian, when his Chief goes on his long pil- 
grimage to the spirit-land, buries with him his war 
implements, his tomahawk, and arrows. We, of a 
Christian faith, bury, far away from our Chief, the 



COURT OF COMMON PLKAS. 43 

barbed arrows of political strife and party rancor, 
and gaze, with mournful gratitude, on the countless 
benefits wliich he has conferred upon us. 

Threescore years and ten he has been spared to 
us. Thirty, at least, of the number, he has been 
leaving the impress of his gigantic intellect upon 
every prominent measure which has conduced to our 
country's advancement and prosperity. 

But I forbear. The glorious sun has set. Un- 
clouded to the last, its latent beams were of meri- 
dian splendor, and the twilight of good influences 
which it leaves will endure forever. 

May it please your Honor — I feel sure that the 
Court will concur with the Bar, in believing that 
these halls of justice, from which we are to miss 
those eloquent tones, that impressive form, should, for 
a time be left to meditative silence. The old, who 
have met him in the arena of forensic warfare ; the 
middle-aged, who have lost in him a kind friend and 
willing counsellor ; the young, who have sat at his 
feet, and drank in lessons of deep wisdom from his 
lips ; and even the young, struggling student, who, 
while lie fully realizes the picture of the poet, 

" Haud facile cmergunt quorum virtutibus obstat 
Res angusta domi," 

yet revived his drooping spirits with the remembrance 
of the perseverance and eventual success of the New 
Hampshire farmer's boy. All, all unite to mourn our 
loss. 

I now move the Court, that this Court be adjourn- 



44 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

ed for such interval as the proper discharge of our 
public duties may permit. 

Judge Perkins very briefly responded, remarking 
that, as it was understood further proceedings relating 
to Mr. Webster's death would take place in the Cir- 
cuit Court to-morrow, he would add nothing to what 
had been said; and, in accordance with the wishes of 
the Bar, he would adjourn the Court to Thursday. 



MEETING AT EANEUIL HALL. 



1 



MEETING IN FANEUIL HALL. 



On the evening of Monday, October 25, a meeting 
of gentlemen was held at the Kevere House, to con- 
sult together as to the measures proper to be adopted 
by the Citizens of Boston to show their respect to 
the memory of Mr. Webster, and their sense of the 
great loss sustauied by them and the country at 
large in his death. After some discussion, the follow- 
ing call was drawn up, signed, and directed tj be 
published in the papers of the next morning. 

MEETING IX FAXEUIL IIALL. 

All persons desirous to consult together and consider what me- 
morial of the services of Daniel Webster is due to themselves and 
their country, are requested to assemble in Faneuil Ilall to-morrow, 
(Wednesday) October 27th, at noon, for that purpose. 

Edward Everett, William llayden, George Ticknor, George S. 
Ilillard, Joseph Tilden, Isaac Parker, Levi A. Dowley, T. B. 
Curtis, Samuel Hooper, John T. Heard, Benjamin Seaver, Samuel 
T. Dana. 

Pursuant to the above call, the citizens of Boston 
assembled in Fanueil Hall, on Wednesday, October 
27, at the hour of noon. Nothing could be more 
solemn and touching than the appearance of the Hall 
and the countenances of those who filled it. The 



48 "WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

windows had been darkened, and there was no light 
but that of the lamps. The citizens entered slowly 
and in silence, and conducted themselves as at the 
funeral of a friend ; standing uncovered during the 
whole proceedings, and listening in profound stillness, 
broken only by sounds of audible grief Not a sin- 
gle person ventured to disturb the sacred silence by 
any expression of applause ; and even the " aye " of 
response returned to the resolutions was given faintly, 
and sounded like a moan. An occasion so solemn 
rarely comes within any one's experience ; and the im- 
pression of that meetmg ^vill never be effaced from 
the heai-ts of tliose who were present. 



The meeting was called to order by Hon. Edward 
Everett. 

Messrs. William Ilayden, Samuel Hooper, and Tho- 
mas Gray were appointed a Committee, to retire and 
report a list of pennanent officers. The Committee 
subsequently reported, — 

Tor President — His Honor Benjamin Seaver, Mayor 
of the City. 

Vice-Prch'idents — Natlian Appleton, James Cheever, 
Robert G. Shaw, Charles ToiTcy, Charles G. Greene, 
Peter Harvey, Sidney Bartlett, Joseph Tilden, of 
Ward Six. 

Secretaries — Samuel Kettell, J. Harris Smith, Wil- 
liam W. Greenough, Samuel T. Dana. 

The Report having been accepted, and the officers 
having taken their seats on the platform. Mayor Seaver 
addressed the meeting as follows : 



MEETING IN FANEUIL HALL. 49 

Fellow-citizens — I can do notliing more in the 
honorable position which, by your favor, has been 
assigned me, than to guide the proceedings of the 
meeting. The notice for the meeting explains every 
thing. Will the Secretary please to read it ? 

Mr. Kettell accordingly read the call. 

The Mayor resumed his remarks, and said : 

It is natural, on such a call as this, that the people 
of Boston should crowd this consecrated hall to in- 
dulge in the emotions of the heart, and mingle their 
sympathies on the afflictive event which has fallen so 
heavily upon our City, the State of Massachusetts, and 
the whole Country. It is good for us to be here. In 
contemplating the character of the illustrious man, 
whose death we mourn, we shall be made better men, 
better citizens, and be moved to the more faithful dis- 
charge of duty. 

Daniel Webster was a constant and faithful friend 
of Boston, and of aU her interests ; they were dear 
to his heart; his labors and his life afford the most 
ample evidence of this. The people of our City, of 
the State, and of New England, are under the strong- 
est obligations to him, and it is their duty to acknow- 
ledge them. There is not an individual here, be he 
rich or poor, of whatever profession, whom he has not 
directly or indirectly benefited. It is our duty to re- 
member all this, and cherish a grateful sense of the 
benefits he has conferred upon us. 

It is an interesting fact, which must be present to 
the minds of most of us to-day, that the last time he 
addressed the people of Boston in this Hall was on 
the 22d of May last, on the unanimous invitation of 



50 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

the City Government, ivlthout distinction of imrtij. There 
are some circumstances attending this invitation worthy 
to be mentioned. It was my privilege to he a mem- 
ber of the Committee who visited Marshfiehl, to pre- 
sent the invitation. We found him suftering severely 
from the accident which occurred only a few days 
prior to our visit. The invitation was read to liim, to 
which he listened with marked attention; and when 
he was told that it was given without distinction of imrty, 
his eyes filled with tears, and he said, with emotion, 
— "I shall accept the invitation, and will prepare an 
answer to be presented to the City Council." That 
eloquent and touching letter you all remember; and 
you also remember his equally eloquent and interest- 
ing address. He was too feeble in health, to make it 
prudent for him to leave his house ; but so strong and 
ardent was his desire to meet liis friends once more in 
Faneuil Hall, that he was willing to risk all for the 
gratification it afforded him. God be thanked that 
he had this opportunity ! 

But, fellow-citizens, we have not met here for the 
purpose of entering into any extended consideration 
of the character of our illustrious friend. This is not 
the time to do this. 

The Chair is now ready to receive any proposition 
that may be made, to carry out the object of the 
meeting. 

JoiLX T. Heard, Esq., then came forward, and said: 

Mr. President — I ask permission to present resolu- 
tions expressive of the feelings of this community, 
occasioned by the death of an illustrious citizen. 
Daniel Webster, the orator, statesman, and patriot, he 



MEETING IN FANEUIL lULL. 51 

■\vlio counselled us in "svisdom, is no longer amongst 
us. That voice, Avliich we have so often heard echo 
through this hall, (Faneuil Ilall,) in matchless elo- 
quence, is silent; though its teachings of patriotism, 
and its advocacy of constitutional liberty and the 
rights of man, will speak forever. The Avhirlwiud of 
political excitement and passion is hushed ; and a 
solemn utterance of heartfelt sorrow is whispered from 
ear to ear. The resolutions will but faintly express 
the emotions of grief that pervade the breasts of the 
mourning multitude here assembled. I move, Mr. 
President, the following resolutions : 

WHtereas, It has pleased Divine Providence, to remove by death 
our late illustrious fellow citizen, Daniel Webster, we, the citi- 
zens of Boston, in Faneuil Hall assembled, desirous of giving 
utterance to those feelings of attachment and veneration which we 
cherish for his memory, unanimously adopt the following resolu- 
tions : 

Resolved, That we are deeply sensible to the loss which has 
been sustained, not only by this community, but the State of 
Massachusetts and the whole Country, in the decease of a man, 
whose distinguished talents, learning, eloquence, and force of cha- 
racter, formed its brightest ornament ; who, coming among us in 
early manhood, with a brilliant reputation from a sister State, 
rose by no slow ascent, till by the decease of his most eminent 
compeers, he stood, by all confession, the greatest of her great 
men ; that, whether we contemplate in him the profoundly learned 
jurist, the advocate endowed with all the gifts of persuasion ; the 
perfect master of the English tongue, in all the accomplishments 
of a scholar, a speaker, and a writer; the great interpreter and 
defender of the Constitution, whose luminous expositions of its 
revered text are replete with all the wisdom of the framers, and, 
who in moments of peril, rescued and sustained what they esta- 
blished ; the model American Statesman, to whom the entire range 
of our political and Constitutional history, our diplomatic relations 



52 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

and foreign affairs, our great territorial, commercial, and indus- 
trial interests at home and abroad, were as familiar as household 
words ; the enlightened patriot, to whom all parts of our common 
country, from North to South, and from ocean to ocean, were 
alike dear ; who ever cherished with his whole heart that Union 
which makes us one people, and to the conservation of which 
his whole life was devoted ; the philosopher and sage, whose vol- 
umes will furnish lessons of instruction, warning, and encourage- 
ment, to the latest posterity; the friend of constitutional freedom 
and liberty, protected by law, by whose burning eloquence, lend- 
ing force to public opinion throughout the world, arbitrary 
power has been rebuked in its strong-holds, and nations strug- 
"lin"- for their ri";hts, have been cheered and strengthened ; that, 
in fine, in whatever light we contemplate the great man whom 
we deplore, we want words to do full justice to our admiration 
of his mighty genius, our gratitude for his invaluable sei-vices, 
and our abiding sorrow over his grave. 

Resolved, While in common with our fellow-citizens throughout 
the country, Ave lament the patriot and statesman, whose public 
labors and services have been of the utmost value to the country, 
that we, the inhabitants of Boston and of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts, the city and State of his adoption, mourn for the 
loss of a fellow-citizen, a neighbor, a companion, a friend, whose 
great heart was the dwelling of all the generous feelings; who 
delighted to unbend from the cares of state, and partake in the 
home-bred relaxations of private life ; who, as a scientific and in- 
telligent fanner, afforded to our substantial yeomanry a cheering 
example of successful practical husbandry; whose presence was 
the light and joy of every friendly circle ; whose hospitable roof 
and genial fireside were the abode of all the domestic charities 
and kindly virtues of a true New England home ; and who, hav- 
ing evinced through life, a reverence for the Bible and the ordi- 
nances of religion, found support in the last trying hour, in the 
hopes and promises of the Gospel. 

And, whereas, we are desirous of testifying our respect for the 
memory of the departed, by some expression of our gratitude and 
veneration, which shall endure to other times, and convey to our 
children's children a lively impression of the feelings, which in- 
fluence us. l?e it further 



MEETING IN FANEUIL HALL. 53 

Resolved, That an executive committee of one hundred persons 
be appointed by the Chair, to be selected in such manner as to 
represent the citizens of every pursuit, calling, and party, whose 
duty it shall be to take such measures as may be deemed expe- 
dient to provide, by the cooperation of the whole community, a 
permanent memorial of our illustrious and lamented fellow-citizen. 

Resolved, That an attested copy of the foregoing resolutions be 
transmitted by the officers of this meeting, together with a report 
of its pi'oceedings, to the bereaved family of Mr. "Webster, with 
the assurance of the heartfelt and respectful sympathy of the citi- 
zens of Boston in their irreparable loss. 

Hon. George S. IIillard moved the adoption of 
the resolutions, and said : 

A great man has passed away from earth. A far- 
shining light is extinguished, and a strong column 
has fallen. We, "svho were guided by that light, who 
leaned upon that column, are left to walk by fainter 
rays, to rest upon feebler supports. I am not here to 
pronounce an eulogy upon Daniel Webster, nor you to 
hear one. A fresh grief is impatient of details. We 
are here to mourn, and not to praise him. You need 
not that I should unfold to you the treasures of his 
greatness. You need not that I should set forth to 
you his claims as a jurist, an orator, a statesman, and 
a patriot. You know them all too well. To suppose 
you ignorant of them, is to suppose you ignorant of 
the history of your country, Avhere they are written 
in lines bright as the belt of Orion. 

It is fitting for us to be here assembled, with these 
countenances of sadness. In the general bereavement, 
ours is a particular loss, for he belonged to us. It is 
now thirty years since he was sent by the citizens of 
Boston to take part in the councils of the nation. 



64 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

and since that time lie lias been the foremost man in 
this community. His eloquence has kindled, his wis- 
dom has guided, his experience has taught us. All 
of us have turned, again and again, to look at his 
commanding presence, which, however often it might 
be seen, seemed an ever new expression of intellect- 
ual power and weight of character. Two generations 
of children have pointed him out to one another, as 
he moved along our streets. None of us, who have 
seen him, can ever have any other ideal image of 
greatness than that which his flice and form have left 
upon our memories. He was our pride and our boast, 
whom we delighted to show to the stranger as the 
grandest growth of our soil and our institutions. 
" When the ear heard him, then it blessed him ; and 
when the eye saw him, it gave witness to him." 

But the influence wdiicli moved from here has gone 
forth to the ends of the earth. His voice of wisdom 
and power, which was at home among us, has pene- 
trated wherever there was an oppressor to be re- 
buked, or a victim to be cheered. Everywhere it has 
brought hope to the struggling and the down-trodden, 
and confusion to the wrongdoer. 

Not from one land alone, not in one tongue alone, 
will his death be mourned. From the four corners 
of the globe, tributes and testimony will be gathered 
up. The shepherd, who tends his flock beneath the 
clear skies of Greece ; the cavalier, that spurs over 
the plains of South America ; the Hungarian, pining 
in exile, or languishing in prison, — will all, when they 
hear of his death, feel a common grief at a common 
loss. Liberty will mourn a champion, humanity a 
friend. 



MEETING IN FAXECIL HALL. 5-5 

There is a strong propriety in our meeting here, 
to do honor to the memory of this great man. Witli 
this spot his image is indissolubly associated. Here 
we have been accustomed to come together, to hang 
upon his words, to be guided by his counsels, and 
sustained by his strength. Here you have, again and 
again, looked upon his majestic form, and that noble, 
intellectual countenance, to which no artist has yet 
done full justice. Here you have seen him stretch 
forth that strong right hand of his, as if he were 
hollowing out for the mountain streams, the channels 
in wliicli they should flow. Here you have heard his 
burning and powerful eloquence, — the lightning of 
passion running along the iron links of argument. 
Have seen, do I say ? Have heard ? Surely you see 
and hear him now. Evoked by the potent genius of 
the place, the departed hours and the departed man 
come back again. We need not that pictured can- 
vas to recall his mighty presence. In the mind's 
6J6, you see once more that heroic shape, that glow- 
ing and inspired countenance. In the mind's ear, you 
hear again that deeply-freighted voice, which has so 
often made the hearts of thousands swell and throb 
like one. The shadow of him we have lost, is more 
than the living forms of all who are left. 

Great men are among the best gifts which God 
bestows upon a people. In this respect. He has not 
hidden his face from us. Great men have been amonff 
US, by whom we have been led and formed and up- 
held; men, wise in counsel, brave in action, earnest 
in patriotic purpose, and faithful to duty. Washing- 
ton, Hamilton, Madison, Jay, Marshall, are illustrious 



56 AVEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

names. History has none greater or better to sliow. 
And now another, — a commensurate spirit, — has 
been summoned away from the cares and trials of 
life, to take his place by their side. But we, that 
stand looking with weeping eyes into his open grave, 
should not forget to thank God for what we have 
had, for his threescore and ten years of rich and 
crowded life, for all that he has done for liberty and 
for law, for the confidence which his presence inspir- 
ed, for the wisdom that saw the right, and the firm- 
ness that maintained it, for his great powers of 
thought and speech, for the precious legacy of his 
wiitings. Let us be thankful that such hands have 
shaped the moulds in which the opinions of so many 
have been cast. 

It is now almost half a century since the nation 
was called upon to mourn the sudden and appalling 
death of the man who, by the greatness of his genius, 
and the greatness of his services, suggests the most 
obvious parallel to him who has just been taken from 
us. He died in the prime of his life, when his coun- 
try liad reason to expect many more years of valu- 
able labor and influence. He died by what, if actions 
derive their character from the motives that prompt 
them, may be called a felon stroke and an assassin's 
hand. When the news of Hamilton's death smote 
upon the land, the general sorrow was mixed up wdth 
a burning sense of wrong, with a stupefying shock 
of surprise, and the wreck of high expectations sud- 
denly dashed in pieces. Ours is a serener grief, for 
ours is a more natural, a more endurable bereave- 
ment. Daniel Webster had reached that period of 



MEETING IN FANEUIL RALL. 57 

life, when it becomes a man to set his house in or- 
der, and wait his final summons. As year after year 
passed by, and found us still leaning on his wisdom 
and experience, which the gro^\'th of the country and 
its widening relations made more and more import- 
ant, W'hen dates and the inexorable hours compelled 
us to admit that he was getting to be an old man, 
we could not help sometimes asking ourselves, to 
whom should we turn when this support should have 
been withdrawn ? For some time past, though we 
have struggled against the conviction, we have been 
forced to acknowledge that time and toil were mak- 
ing inroads upon his vigorous frame. lie has died 
full of years and full of honor, with no duty unper- 
formed, and no trust undischarged. He has done his 
work and earned his crown. And as we have such 
cause for gratitude for his long and great life, so let 
us also be thankful for the mercy which so ordered 
its close ; that he died by no lingering and painful 
decay, malving him dead while yet living ; that he 
died with all his glorious faculties unimpaired; and 
that this great orb, which had so long guided and 
cheered us with its light, sunk below the horizon, 
undimmed by a single cloud. 

And there are other soothing and consoling reflec- 
tions that temper this stroke. No man knoweth the 
place of his sepulchre. In the East, there is a touch- 
ing benediction, — May you die among your kindred. 
This blessing was given unto him. He died as the 
heart hopes to die. He died in his own home, amid 
those scenes of natural beauty endeared to him by 
the joys and sorrows of many eventful years, with 

8 



58 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

the ftices of family, kindred, and friends, around his 
bed, religion pillowing his head, in that mellow and 
pensive season of the year so dear to his thoughtful 
and tender spirit, with his own trees waving before 
his dying eyes, and that voice of the sea, which he 
loved so well, soothing his dying ear: 

For him there is no longer any future, 

His life is bright; bright without spot it was, 

And cannot cease to be. No ominous hour 

Knocks at his door with tidings of mishap. 

Far off is he, above desire and fear ; 

No more submitted to the chance and change 

Of the unsteady planets. Oh 'tis well 

With him! But who knows what the coming hour, 

Veiled in thick darkness, brings for us. 

Yes, my friends, for us. These words are not inap- 
propriate to the hour and the place. We are a great, 
a powerful, a prosperous people ; but there are dan- 
gers in our path, and we know not what is hidden 
in the darkness of the coming hours. When we shall 
have discharged the last sad duty to this great states- 
man and patriot, and laid that illustrious head in the 
grave, who can fail to offer up a fervent supplication, 
that a double portion of his spirit may be upon us ! 
May his influence help to save us from the evils of 
selfish ambition, of grasping injustice, of headlong 
fanaticism. May he continue to infuse into our coun- 
cils the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of justice, and the 
spirit of peace. 

What living man is so eloquent as death ! What 
living lips can speak like those on which the grave 
has set its seal of silence ! From the book of Job 



MEETLN'G IN FANEUIL HALL. 59 

to the newspaper of to-day, the same teachings have 
been drawn from the dread presence, which no cus- 
tom can make familiar. The cold and rigid frame, 
the mute tongue, the dim eye, the powerless hand, 
have ever given occasion to poets and moralists to 
discourse on the vanity of human wishes and the sha- 
dowy nature of human hopes. But the death of the 
o-reat and good has other lessons than these. Wliile 
it teaches impressively, that that which is mortal must 
die ; it teaches also, not less impressively, that that 
which is immortal, shall not taste of death. "I still 
live," were among the last words of Webster. They 
are yet true. His works, his words, his examples, his 
life, still live. A death like his, so simply, so serene- 
ly great, — brightened by hope and faith and love, 
dignified with the perfect possession of such glorious 
powers, is not so much the close of one day as the 
dawn of another ; not so much the putting off of mor- 
tality, as the putting on of immortality. When we 
read of such an euthanasia, we seem to hear a voice 
from the sky, which says, "Lift up that dejected 
brow, and the hands which are cast down. The death 
which you lament is but a great event in the life of 
the soul. It is a change, and not a dissolution. It 
is the gate to a new sphere, in which the mind, en- 
riched with larger powers, shall enter upon broader 
fields of action and duty, where nobler struggles shall 
task the strength, and more precious crowns reward 
the victory ; where the hopes and the dreams of earth 
shall be turned to sight, and the broken circles of 
life be rounded to the perfect orb." 



60 ■WEBSTER MEMORUL. 

Hon. Edward E^trett then spoke as follows : 
Mr. Mavor and Fellow-Citizens — I never rose to 
address an assembly when I was so little fit, body 
or mind, to perfoiin the duty ; and I never felt so 
keenly how inadequate are words to express such an 
emotion as manifestly pervades this meeting, in com- 
mon with the whole countr}'. There is but one voice 
that ever fell upon my ear which could do justice to 
such an occasion. That voice, alas ! we shall hear no 
more forever. No more at the bar will it unfold the 
deepest mysteries of the law ; no more will it speak 
comiction to admiring Senates ; no more in this hall, 
the chosen theatre of his intellectual dominion, will it 
lift the soul as with the swell of the pealing organ, 
or stir the blood with the tones of a clarion, in the 
inmost chambers of the heart. 

We are assembled, fellow-citizens, to pour out the 
fulness of our feelings ; not in the vain attempt to 
do honor to the great man who is taken from us ; 
most assuredly not with the presumptuous hope on my 
part to magnify his name and Ms praise. They are 
spread throughout the Union. From East to West, 
and from Xorth to South, (which he knew, as he told 
you, only that he might embrace them in the arms of 
a loving patriotism,) a voice of lamentation has al- 
ready gone forth, such as has not echoed through the 
land since the death of him who was first in war, 
first in peace, and first in the hearts of his country- 
men. 

You have listened, fellow-citizens, to the resolutions 
which have been submitted to you by Col. Heard. I 
thank him for olTering them. It does honor to his 



MEETING IN FANEUIL HALL. 61 

heart, and to those with whom he acts in politics, 
and whom I have no doubt he well represents, that 
he has stepped forward so liberally on this occasion. 
The resolutions are emphatic, sir, but I feel that they 
do not say too much. Xo one will think they over- 
state the magnitude of our loss. Who that is capa- 
ble of appreciating a character like that of Daniel 
Webster ; who of us, fellow-citizens, that has known 
him — that has witnessed the masterly skill with 
which he would pour the full effulgence of his mind 
on some contested legal and constitutional principle, 
till what seemed hard and obscure became as plain 
as day ; who that has seen him, in all the glory of 
intellectual ascendency. 

Ride on the wliirlwind and direct the storm 

of parliamentary conflict ; who that has drank of the 
pure fountains of wisdom and thought in the volumes 
of his writings ; who alas, sir, that has seen him 

in his happier hour 
Of social pleasure, ill-exchanged for power, 

that has come within the benignant fascination of his 
smile, has felt the pressure of his hand, and tasted 
the sweets of his fireside eloquence, will tliink that 
the resolutions say too much ? 

No, fellow-citizens, we come together not to do 
honor to him, but to do justice to ourselves. We 
obey an impulse from within. Such a feeling can- 
not be pent up in solitude. We must meet, neigh- 
bor with neighbor, citizen with citizen, man with man, 
to sympathize with each other. If we did not, mute 
Nature would rebuke us. The granite hUls of New 



62 WEBSTER MEilORUL. 

Hampshire, within whose shadow he drew his first 
hreath, would cry shame ; Plymouth Rock, which all 
but moved at his approach; the slumbering echoes 
of this hall, wliich rung so grandly with his voice ; 
that " silent but majestic orator," which rose in no 
mean degree at his command on Bunker Hill — all, 
all would cry out at our degeneracy and ingratitude. 
Mr. Chairman, I do not stand here to pro- 
nounce the eulogy of Mr. Webster ; it is not neces- 
sary. Eulogy has already performed her first offices 
to his memor}^ As the mournful tidings have flashed 
through the country, the highest officers of Nation 
and State, the most dignified official bodies, the most 
prominent individuals, without distinction of party, 
the press of the country, the great voice of the land, 
all have spoken, and with one accord of opinion and 
feeling ; and an unanimity that does honor at once 
to the object of this touching attestation, and to those 
who make it. The record of his life, from the hum- 
ble roof beneath wliich he was born, (with no inherit- 
ance but poverty and an honored name,) up through 
the arduous paths of manhood, which he trod with 
lion heaii and giant steps, till they conducted him 
to the helm of State — this stirring narrative, not 
unfamiliar before, has, with melancholy promptitude, 
within the last three days, been again sent abroad 
through the length and breadth of the land. It has 
spread from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Strug- 
gling poverty has been cheered afresh ; honest am- 
bition has been kindled ; patriotic resolve has been 
invigorated ; while all have mourned. The poor boy 
at the village school has taken comfort as he has 



MEETING IN FANEUIL ILiLL. 63 

read that the time was "when Daniel Webster, whose 
flither toki him he should go to college if he had to 
sell every acre of his flirm to pay the expense, laid 
liis head on the shoulder of that fond and discerning 
parent, and wept the thanks he could not speak. The 
pale student, who ekes out his scanty support by 
extra toil, has gathered comfort when reminded that 
the first Jurist^ Statesman, and Orator of the time 
earned with his weary fingers by the midnight lamp 
the means of securing the same advantages of educa- 
tion to a beloved brother. Every true-hearted citizen 
throughout the Union has felt an honest pride, as he 
reperuses the narrative, in reflecting that he lives be- 
neath a Constitution and a Government under which 
such a man has been formed and trained, and that 
he liimself is compatriot with him. lie does more, 
sir ; he reflects with gratitude that in consequence of 
what that man has done, and written, and said — in 
the result of his efforts to strengthen the pillars of 
the Union — a safer inheritance of civil liberty, a 
stronger assurance that these blessings will endure, 
will descend to his children. 

I know, Mr. Mayor, how presumptuous it would be 
to dwell on any personal causes of grief, in the pre- 
sence of this august sorrow, which spreads its dark 
wings over the land. You will not, however, be of- 
fended if, by way of apology for putting myself for- 
ward on this occasion, I say that my relations with 
Mr. Webster run further back than those of almost 
any one in this community. They began the first 
year he came to live in Boston. When I was but 
ten or eleven years old, I attended a little private 



64 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

school ill Short Street, (as it was then called, it is 
now the continuation of Kingston Street,) kept by 
the late Hon. Ezekiel Webster, the elder brother, to 
whom I have alluded, and a brother worthy of liis 
kindred. Owing to illness, or some other cause of 
absence on his part, the school was kept for a short 
time by Daniel Webster, then a student of law in Mr. 
Gore's office j and on this occasion, forty-seven or eight 
years ago, and I a child of ten, our acquaintance, since 
then never interrupted, began. 

When I entered public life, it was with his encou- 
ragement. In 1838 I acted, fellow-citizens, as your 
organ in the great ovation which you gave him in 
this hall. V/hen he came to the Department of State, 
in 1841, it was on Ms recommendation that I, 
living in the utmost privacy beyond the Alps, was 
appointed to a very high office abroad ; and, in the 
course of the last year, he gave me the highest proof 
of his confidence, in intrusting to me the care of con- 
ducting his Avorks through the press. May I venture, 
Sir, to add, that in the last letter but one Avhich I had 
the happiness to receive from him, alluding, with a 
kind of sad presentiment, which I could not then 
fully appreciate, but which now unmans me, to these 
Idndly relations of half a century, he adds, — "We 
now and then see stretching across the heavens a 
clear, blue, cerulean sky, without cloud, or mist, or 
haze. And such appears to me our acquaintance, from 
the time when I heard you for a week recite your 
lessons in the little school-house in Short Street to 
the date hereof," 21st July, 1852. 

Mr. Chairman, I do not dwell upon the traits of 



MEETING IN F.iNEUIL HALL. 65 

My. Webster's public character, however tempting the 
theme. Its bright developments, in a long life of ser- 
vice, are before the world; they are wrought into the 
annals of the country. Whoever, in after times, shall 
wi'ite the history of the United States for the last 
forty years, will wi'ite the life of Daniel Webster ; 
and whoever wiites the life of Daniel Webster as it 
ought to be written, will write the history of the 
Union from the time he took a leading part in its 
concerns. I prefer to allude to those private traits 
which show the man, the kindness of his heart, the 
generosity of his spirit, his freedom from all the bit- 
terness of party, the unaffected gentleness of his na- 
ture. In preparing the new edition of his works, he 
thought proper to leave almost every thing to my dis- 
cretion, as far as matters of taste are concerned. One 
thing only he enjoined upon me, with an earnestness 
approaching to a command. "My friend," said he, "I 
wish to perpetuate no feuds. I have lived a life of 
strenuous political warfare. I have sometimes, though 
rarely, and that in self-defence, been led to speak of 
others with severity; I beg you, where you can do it 
without wholly changing the character of the speech, 
and thus doing essential injustice to me, to obliterate 
every trace of personality of this kind. I should 
prefer not to leave a word that would give unneces- 
sary pain to any honest man, however opposed to 
me." 

But I need not tell you, feUow-citizens, that there 
is no one of our distinguished public men whose 
speeches contain less occasion for such an injunction. 
Mr. Webster habitually rejected the use of the poi- 

9 



66 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

soned weapons of personal invective or party odium. 
No one could more studiously abstain from all at- 
tempts to make a political opponent personally hate- 
ful. K the character of our Congressional discussions 
has of late years somewhat declined in dignity, no 
portion of the blame lies at his door. "With Mr. Cal- 
houn, who for a considerable portion of the time was 
his chief antagonist, and with whom he was brought 
into most direct collision, he maintained friendly 
personal relations. He did full justice to his talents 
and character. You remember the feeling with which 
he spoke of him at the time of his decease. Mr. Cal- 
houn, in his turn, entertained a just estimate of his 
great opponent's worth. He said, toward the close of 
his life, that of all the leading men of the day, " there 
was not one whose political course had been more 
strongly marked by a strict regard to truth and honor 
than Mr. Webster's." 

One of the resolutions speaks of a permanent me- 
morial to Mr. Webster. I do not know what is con- 
templated, but I trust that such a memorial there will 
be. I trust that marble and brass, in the hands of 
the most skilful artists our country has produced, will 
be put in requisition to reproduce to us, — and no- 
where so appropriately as in this hall, — the linea- 
ments of that noble form and beaming countenance, 
on which we have so often gazed with delight. But, 
after all, fellow-citizens, the noblest monument must 
be found in his works. There he will live and speak 
to us and our children, when brass and marble have 
crumbled into dust. As a repository of political truth 
and practical wisdom, applied to the affairs of govern- 



JIEETING IN FANEUIL RALL. 67 

ment, I know not where we shall find their equal. 
The works of Burke naturally suggest themselves to 
the mind^ as the only writings in our language that 
can sustain the comparison. Certainly no composi- 
tions in the English tongue can take precedence of 
those of Burke, in depth of thought, reach of fore- 
cast, or magnificence of style. I think, however, it 
may be said without partiality, either national or 
personal, that while the reader is cloyed, at last, with 
the gorgeous finish of Burke's diction, there is a se- 
vere simplicity and a significant plainness in Web- 
ster's writing, that never tires. It is precisely this 
which characterizes the statesman, in distinction from 
the political philosopher. In political disc[uisition, ela- 
borated in the closet, the palm must, perhaps, be 
awarded to Burke over all others, ancient or modern. 
But in the actual conflicts of the Senate, man against 
man, and opinion against opinion ; in the noble war 
of debate, where measures are to be sustained and 
opposed, on which the welfare of the country and the 
peace of the world depend, where often the line of 
intellectual battle is changed in a moment ; no time 
to reflect, no leisure to cull words, or gather up il- 
lustrations, but all to be decided by a vote, although 
the reputation of a life may be at stake, — all this 
is a very different matter, and here Mr. Webster was 
immeasurably the superior. Accordingly, we find, his- 
torically, (incredible as it sounds, and what I am ready 
to say I will not believe, though it is unquestionably 
true,) that these inimitable orations of Burke, which 
one cannot read without a thrill of admiration to his fin- 
gers' ends, actually emptied the benches of parliament. 



68 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

All, gentlemen, it was very different with our great 
parliamentary orator. He not only chained to their 
seats willing, or, if there were such a thing, unwil- 
ling Senators, hut the largest hall was too small for 
liis audience. On the memorahle Tth of March, 1850, 
when he was expected to speak upon the great ques- 
tions then pending before the country, not only was 
the Senate Chamber thronged to its utmost capacity 
at an early hour, but all the passages to it, the Ro- 
tundo of the Capitol, and even the avenues of the 
city, were alive with the crowds who were desirous 
of gaining admittance. Another Senator, not a poli- 
tical friend, was entitled to the floor. With equal 
good taste and good feeling, he stated that " he was 
aware that the great multitude had not come toge- 
ther to hear him ; and he was pleased to yield the 
floor to the only man, as he believed, who could draw 
together such an assembly." Tliis sentiment, — the 
effusion of parliamentary courtesy, — will, perhaps, be 
found no inadequate expression of what will finally 
be the judgment of posterity. 

Among the many memorable words which fell from 
the lips of our friend just before they were closed 
forever, the most remarkable are those which my 
friend Ilillard has just quoted, " I still live." They 
attest the serene composure of his mind, the Chris- 
tian heroism, with wliicli he was able to turn his con- 
sciousness in upon itself, and explore, step by step, 
the dark passage, (dark to us, but to him we trust 
already lighted from above,) which connects this world 
with the world to come. But I know not, Mr. Chair- 
man, what words could have been better chosen to 



MEETING IN F.\XEUIL ILVLL. 09 

express his relation to the world he was leaving: "I 
still live. This poor dust is just returning to the dust 
from which it was taken ; hut I feel that I live in 
the affections of the people to whose service I have 
consecrated my days. I still live. The icy hand of 
death is already laid on my heart, but I shall still 
live in those words of faitliful counsel which I have 
uttered to my fellow-citizens, and which I now leave 
them as the last bequest of a dying friend." 

Mr. Chairman, in the long and honored career of 
our lamented friend there are efforts and triumphs 
which will hereafter fill one of the brightest pages 
in our history. But I greatly err if the closing 
scene — the height of the religious sublime — does 
not, in the judgment of other days, far transcend in 
interest the brightest exploits of public life. Within 
that darkened chamber at Marshfield, was witnessed 
a scene of which we shall not readily find the paral- 
lel. The serenity with which he stood in the pre- 
sence of the Eang of Terrors, without trepidation 
or flutter, for hours and days of expectation ; the 
thoughtfulness for the public business, when the 
sands were so nearly run out ; the hospitable care 
for the reception of the friends who came to Marsh- 
field ; that affectionate and solemn leave separately 
taken, name by name, of wife, and children, and kin- 
dred, and friends, and family, down to the humblest 
members of the household; the designation of the 
coming day, then near at hand, when "all that was 
mortal of Daniel Webster would cease to exist;" the 
dimly-recollected strains of the funereal poetry of Gray, 
the last faint flash of the soaring intellect ; the feebly 



'0 



WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 



murmured words of Holy Writ repeated from the lips 
of the good physician, who, when, all the resources of 
human art had been exhausted, had a drop of spirit- 
ual balm for the parting soul ; the clasped hands ; 
the dying prayer. Oh ! my fellow-citizens, that is a 
consummation over which tears of pious sympathy 
will be shed, ages after the glories of the Forum and 
the Senate are forgotten. 

His sufferings ended witli the day, 

Yet lived lie at its close ; 
And breathed the long, long night away. 

In statue-like repose. 

But ere the sun, in all his state, 

Illumed the eastern skies. 
He passed through glory's morning gate, 

And walked in Paradise. 

The resolutions were then adopted. 
The Hon. William Appleton submitted the follow- 
ing resolve, which was likewise adopted : 

Resolved, That as a token of respect for the memory of Mr. 
Webster, this meeting recommend that the banks, insurance offices, 
and other places of business be closed on Friday next. 

The Mayor announced the Committee of one hun- 
dred, as follows : 



Thos. H. Perkins 
Geo. Ticknor 
Edward Everett 
Nathan Appleton 
Abbott Lawrence 
Benjamin Seaver 
Amos Lawrence 
Francis C. Gray 
Samuel Lawrence 



John II. Pearson 
Samuel Hooper 
John P. Ober 
Vernon Brown 
J. Thos. Stevenson 
C. P. Curtis 
Chas. J. Plendee 
James K. Mills 
Francis C. Lowell 



Benjamin Loring 
Nathan Hale 
Saml. A. Eliot 
William Appleton 
William Amory 
Chas. II. Mills 
A. Hemmenway 
Francis Skinner 
Chas. L. Woodbury 



MEETING IN F.INEUIL HALL. 



71 



Robert G. Shaw 
John T. Heard 
Franklin Haven 
Chas. G. Greene 
Jno. C. TVarren 
Jno. E. Thayer 
Thos. W. Ward 
Jno. A. Lowell 
Saml. D. Bradford 
Robert B. Storer 
Peter Harvey 
Enoch Train 
John M. Forbes 
Le\T A. Dowley 
Moses Williams 
Albert Fearing 
L. W. Tap pan 
Henry K. Horton 
Samuel T. Dana 
W. W. Greenough 
Daniel SafFord 
Jno. P. Thorndike 
Wm. Hayden 
Geo. T. Curtis 
Jacob Sleeper 



E. F. Raymond 
W. H. Lamed 
M. C. Barslow 
S. C. Allen 
Julius A. Palmer 
Jno. C. Tucker 
James Cheever 
Geo. B. Upton 
Geo. R. Sampson 
William Sturgis 
Ozias Goodwin 
Paran Stevens 
H. J. Gardner 
C. C. Felton 
Geo. T. Lyman 
H. M. Holbrook 
Wm. T. Eustis. 
Tlios. T. Whittemore 
William Almy 
Joseph Packard 
N. A. Thompson 
Chas. Larkin 
Wm. Thomas 
John Jeffries 
Amos A. Lawrence 



Samuel Henshaw 
Benjamin F. Hallett 
Samuel KetteU 
C. R. Ransom 
Geo. Peabody 
Thomas B. Wales 
Samuel Whitwell 
P. W. Chandler 
John W. Trull 
James Whiting 
Eliphalet Jones 
Silas Pearce 
Geo. W. Crockett 
Andrew Carney 
H. H. Hunnewell 
James Lawrence 
J. W. James 
Jonas Chickerins: 
Peter Dunbar 
Arthur Pickering 
Henry Crocker 
Benjamin Smith 
Ezra Forristall 
Thomas B. Curtis 



The meeting, after approving of this list of names, 
adjourned. 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 



FOR THE 



DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



lU 



PROCEEDINGS OF TIIE CIRCUIT COURT FOR 
THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The members of the Bar met in tlie Law Library, 
Monday morning, October 25. They Avere called to 
order by the Hon. George Lunt, District Attorney of 
the United States, and Hon. Charles G. Loring was 
appointed Chairman, and Francis 0. Watts, Esq., Se- 
cretary. Hon. Rufus Choate, Sydney Bartlett^ Esq., 
Hon. George S. Hillard, Richard H. Dana, Jr., and 
George T. Curtis, Esquires, were appointed to report 
resolutions at a future meeting, Tuesday morning, 
at the adjourned meeting, Hon. Simon Greenleaf, John 
P. Putnam, and Tolman Willey, Esquires, were added 
to the committee. Thursday, October 28th, the Bar 
again met in the Supreme Court Room, and the reso- 
lutions given below were reported and adopted, when 
the meeting adjourned to the Circuit Court — then in 
session — Curtis and Sprague, Justices, on the bench. 
The room was crowded to overflowing. The Hon. 
George Lunt announced to the Court the death of 
Mr. Webster, as follows: 

May it please your Honors — I have the sad duty to 
announce, as Attorney of the United States for this 



76 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

district, the removal of Daniel Webster, the great 
leader and exemplar of this Bar, by death. The per- 
formance of the mournful duty thus devolved upon 
me, results from my official position, and is in accord- 
ance with the usages of the Bar. But I should do 
dishonor to my own feelings, did I not at the same 
time signify that my heart beats in unison with all 
other hearts, under the pressure of so great a cala- 
mity. And, while I discharge this office, I only feel 
how inadequate must be every tribute of respect to 
the memory of that illustrious citizen, whose public 
life for so long a period has constituted one of the 
chief elements of the pride and glory of his country. 
But, feeling only too sensibly, that what belongs to 
me in this public expression of sorrow arises only 
from the accident of my position, I am equally sen- 
sible that it does not become me to assume the place 
of his eulogist, whose fame is indeed beyond all 
eulogy. 

It is impossible not to be conscious that a glory 
has departed w^hich blazes rarely in the successive 
centuries of time. And as in the disruption of pri- 
vate ties, we turn in vain to those who remain for 
relief, so in the departure of this great personage, 
singularly unequalled and unapproached by all others 
of his time, we feel that a vast and "aching void" 
will long be left unsatisfied in the beating heart of a 
nation. 

But it is a source of satisftiction to me that there 
are present those members of this Bar who for many 
years have enjoyed the more intimate communion of 
this majestic spirit. They have been animated and 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 77 

elevated, and inspired by the sublime intellect of him 
whose record has long been written amongst 

The few, the immortal names, 
Which were not born to die. 

To tliem I would respectfully leave what better be- 
comes those who have nearer rights and higher capa- 
cities for so great a theme. 

With the permission of your Honors, I will ask 
that, at the close of these proceedings, tliis Circuit 
Court of the United States do adjourn, and that the 
ceremonial of this day be entered upon its records. 

The Hon. Charles G. Lorixg then addressed the 
court. 

May it please the Court — I stand before you as 
the humljlo organ of this Bar, instructed to present 
for entry on your records resolutions passed at a re- 
cent meeting, expressive of our emotions upon the 
death of our illustrious leader, w^hose departure fills 
not only our, but a nation's heart Avith grief. 

The subject, while of profoundest interest, is too 
grand for oratory. The announcement that Daniel 
Webster is dead fills the souls of all here with recol- 
lections, thoughts, and emotions, which no other words 
could excite. The simple statement of the event is 
the most appropriate eloquence. It is in justice only 
to ourselves, not to him, that our feelings seek utter- 
ance and relief in words. 

His name and character, indeed, belong to the 
whole people of the United States of America, whom 
he has so long, so faithfully, and so gloriously served. 



78 WEBSTER MEMORUL. 

and not to this, or any otlier Bar or State. There is 
not an intelligent citizen of this broad Republic, from 
the Canadas to the Rio Grande, or from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific, or who sails beneath its flag in the 
remotest sea, to -whom knowledge of this event will 
not come as sad tidings of public calamity, — as 
of a tower of national strength laid low, as of 
a star stricken from the firmament of liis country's 
glory. 

The colossal grandeur of his intellect, the vast num- 
ber and magnitude of his services as a patriotic states- 
man, and his rank as one of the most profound reason- 
ers and sublime orators which have appeared in any 
age* or nation; and the influences he has thus exer- 
cised, and for ages to come must continue to exert 
upon the mind, institutions, and destinies of the Ameri- 
can people, are treasures of national wealth, and 
themes for other occasions. 

But with these are inseparably connected his labors 
as a jurist, which it becomes us, more particularly, to 
commemorate on this occasion; and which, although 
less generally conspicuous, even to his contemporaries, 
and becoming less so as advancing time and expe- 
rience consecrate into axioms the great principles 
which he was primarily and chiefly instrumental in 
establishing, are of no less magnitude and importance, 
as having led to those judicial constructions of the 
Constitution which have confirmed it in the confidence 
and affections of the people as a truly national insti- 
tution. These services, we may, perhaps, be the more 
able to appreciate as presenting unequalled profes- 
sional claims to the lasting gratitude of the country, 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 79 

and the admiration and reverence of every student of 
its judicial history. 

To Mr. Webster are we chiefly indebted that the 
segis of the National Constitution has been spread over 
the rights of property and franchises held under State 
charters, protecting them alike from oppressive, cor- 
rupt, or ill-considered local legislation; to him, for 
the first enunciation and maintenance of the great 
theory of the entire unity of the commercial relations 
of the several States, forbidding monopolies of any 
nature within the navigable waters of either; and to 
him, far beyond all others, in frequent political and 
forensic arguments, for those masterly expositions of 
the principles involved in the conflict of jurisdictioi^s 
of the general government and of the individual 
States, which will henceforth compose, not so much 
weapons for conflict, as acknowledged truths upon 
which future questions shall be decided. 

It is a common subject of thankfulness to the Di- 
vine Providence, which has hitherto so mercifully 
shaped our nation's destiny, that statesmen were ori- 
ginally vouchsafed capable of framing and administer- 
ing our National Constitution; and it is no less a 
cause of reverential gratitude that, after they were 
gathered to their fathers, another was sent equally 
imbued with its spirit, and profound apprehension of 
its great principles, and their far-reaching influences, 
to apply them as a statesman and jurist in the great 
emergencies which were soon to arise, to test its 
adaptation to the vast ends for which it was designed. 

And history, in completing the noblest column as 
yet raised in her temple, that of American constitu- 



80 WEBSTER MEMORAL. 

tional liberty, while inscribing upon its tablet the 
names of Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Jay, and Hamil- 
ton, as founders of the glorious fabric, will instinct- 
ively add the name of Daniel Webster, as equally 
entitled to the eternal gratitude of his countrymen, 
as its expositor and defender. But to us, as members 
of this Bar, who have encountered or been associated 
with him in its arduous conflicts, have witnessed his 
forensic efforts, and enjoyed the privileges of social 
intercourse with him, and who have with such honest 
pride exulted in him as our head and leader, this 
event is of still closer interest. Who of us can ever 
forget his broad and comprehensive views, his clear 
and masterly statements of his cases, in themselves 
convincing arguments, the exquisite precision and no 
less wonderful language, his profound logic, his varied 
and extensive learning, his dignity of manner, and 
his matchless eloquence, his whole professional bear- 
ing? Who of us has foiled to exult as we held our 
breath in his ascent as on eagles' wings to the high- 
est heavens of eloquence, w^hen conscious of the right- 
eousness of his cause ; or has not witnessed how 
heavy became his flight and drooping his pinions 
when conscious of a bad one ? Mr. Webster could 
not, and all honor be to his name that he could not, 
argue a bad cause comparatively well. His mental 
vision was too penetrating and comprehensive, his lo- 
gic too uncompromising, his perception of truth too 
clear, and his love of it too instinctive to fit him as 
the champion of error. 

Well may we exclaim in retrospect of his inter- 
course and services at this Bar. — 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 81 

Heu ! quanto minus cum reliquis versari 
Quam Tui nieminlsso. 

But I forbear further allusion to our own bereave- 
ment. Standing, as we are, amid the ruins of a na- 
tion's fortress, the shock of whose fall is still vibrat- 
ing throughout the land, the heart instinctively turns 
from the meditation of comparatively private sorrow 
to the nation's loss, and to gathering up the consola- 
tions of remembrance and hope. True, the mighty arm 
upon wliich we most confidently rested for defence 
against foreign political encroachment, and to main- 
tain our dignity among the nations of the earth, is 
broken ; the rock in the political wilderness which 
needed to be touched only by the wand of patriotism, 
to send forth gushing w^aters of wisdom and peace to 
allay the fever of the people, is removed out of its 
place ; and the star that has so long guided in the 
night and tempest of national perplexity and agi- 
tation, is gone down forever; but the recorded trea- 
sures of his wisdom remain imperishable; the great 
principles he has established or vindicated for the na- 
tion's guidance, now become, and will forever stand 
as household gods in the hearts of the people. "I 
still live!" were the last words of the dying patriot, 
in prophetic vision of the immortality of his name and 
services; and he will "still live" in influence and 
grateful remembrance so long as the American Union 
shall endure, and its flag wave over an intelligent and 
loyal people. 

Nor is the last and highest consolation wanting to 

us. Our friend died in the profession and peace of 

that faith which the greatest, equally with the hum- 

11 



82 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

blest, needs in the scenes and labors of life, and in 
passing throngh tlie valley of tlie shadow of death, 
and yielded np his mighty spirit in filial trust to the 
God who gave it; who alone knoweth the heart and 
trieth the reins of man, and to whom alone, in faith 
and humility, must all judgment of our fellow-men, as 
well as of ourselves, be finally committed. 

The Hon. George S. Hillard read the following re- 
solutions of the Bar, and asked that they be entered 
upon the records of the Court. 

Resolved, That as members of the Bar we look back with pride 
upon Mr. Webster's professional career, and acknowledge with 
gratitude the honor which such a life, and such powers, have shed 
upon the law. Ilis mind was early imbued with the bracing learn- 
in"' of the common law, the principles of whicli he seized with a 
strong grasp, which neither time, nor subsequent devotion to pur- 
suits of politics and government, ever relaxed. He was equally 
familiar with the technical refinements of special pleading, and 
the recondite learning of real law. Trained by long and constant 
conflict with some of the ablest lawyers and advocates whom 
this country has reared, his judgment in the conduct of causes, his 
familiarity with the rules of evidence, and his presence of mind 
in the meeting of legal emergencies, were not less conspicuous 
than the Avisdom and eloquence which have made his public career 
so illustrious. His addresses to juries were marked by simplicity, 
clearness, dignity, and power. His legal arguments were learned, 
strong, luminous, and convincing. His profound and massive con- 
stitutional arguments embody the soundest principles of interpreta- 
tion, and form unrivalled models of logical reasoning. His mind 
drew from the law no other elements than those of expansion and 
(^rowth ; and in the speeches and writings which have done so much 
honor to him. and so much honor to the country, we recognize 
the training and discipline derived from the studies and the contests 
of the Bar. 

Resolved, That as citizens of our common country, we acknow- 



PROCEEDLNGS OF TIIE CIRCUIT COURT. 83 

ledge, with profound sensibility, the great debt of gratitude and 
admiration due to him, as an enlightened and patriotic statesman. 
As a public man, he was just, brave, and wise ; jealous of the honor 
of his own country, and mindful of the rights of others ; far-seeing 
and sagacious — wise to discern the right, and firm in maintaining 
it. Ilis political creed was the application of the rules of sound 
morals to government. lie valued constitutional liberty because 
he understood it, and his powerful voice has penetrated wherever 
freedom was struggling and humanity oppressed. His views were 
broad, national, and comprehensive, limited to no party, and bounded 
by no section of the country. He detected with unrivalled sagacity 
the springs of national greatness, and expounded them with propor- 
tionate clearness and power. In counsels and principles like his, 
we see the elements of national power, of material prosperity, and 
of moral influence. Nor should we, in his more eminent and con- 
spicuous merits, overlook the uniform dignity and decorum of his 
public career, the freedom from personality, and from appeals to 
low and unworthy motives, which characterize his speeches, and the 
high tone of thought and discussion which marks them. 

Resolved, That we recognize in ]Mr. Webster's life and words, 
elements of greatness and power, independent of his career as a 
lawyer and a statesman. A writer, a thinker, and a speaker, his 
influence has been great while living, and will be not less great when 
dead. His vigorous and masculine style was no more than the ade- 
quate expression of weighty and striking thought. His eloquence 
was simple, severe, and grand, never stooping to exaggeration or 
extravagance, never lending itself to base or unworthy ends. Plis 
writings are treasures of thought, pure in their morality, of classical 
beauty, and ennobling in all their tendencies. His private life, not 
less than his public, illustrated the greatness of his character. In 
all his social and domestic relations, the varied and noble gifts of 
his intellect and of his heart shone conspicuously. The generous 
affections of friends, in which he was so rich, attest the integrity, 
uprightness, and beauty of his daily walk. And when Heaven 
decreed that he must close the majestic life which he had lived, he 
added to that life its crowning glory, by acknowledging his humble 
faith in the doctrines of Ciiristianity, and by dying a Christian's 
death. 



84 AVEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

Besolved, That the Bar deeply mourn the loss of one so great as 
a statesman, so lirofound as a lawyer, and so noble as a man ; that 
they tender their heartfelt sympathies to the family of the deceased, 
and request permission to join in the funeral ceremonies. 

Resolved, That the President of this meeting be requested to 
communicate a copy of these Resolutions to the family of the de- 
ceased, and to present the same in the Circuit Court of the United 
States, now in session. 

The Hon. Rufus Choate then said: 

May it please your Honors — I have been requested 
by the members of the Bar of this Court to add a 
few words to the resolutions just read, in which they 
have embodied, as they were able, their sorrow for 
the death of their beloved and illustrious member and 
countryman, ]\Ir. Webster; their estimation of his cha- 
racter, life, and genius; their sense of the bereave- 
ment to the country, as to his friends, incapable of 
repair; the pride, the fondness, — the filial and the 
patriotic pride and fondness — with which they cherish, 
and would consign to history to cherish, the memory 
of a great and good man. 

And yet, I could earnestly have desired to be ex- 
cused from this duty. He must have known Mr. 
Webster less, and loved him less than your Honors, 
or than I have known and loved him, who can quite 
yet — quite yet — before we can comprehend that we 
have lost him forever — before the first paleness with 
which the news of his death overspread our cheeks has 
passed away; before we have been down to lay him 
in the Pilgrim soil he loved so well — till the heavens 
be no more — ho must have known and loved him 
less than we have done — who can come here quite 
yet, to recount the series of his services — to display 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. <S.") 

with psychological exactness the traits of his nature 
and mind ; to ponder and speculate on the secrets, 
on tlie marvellous secrets and source of that vast 
power, which we shall see no more in action — nor 
aught in any degree resembling it — among men. 
These first moments should be given to grief It 
may employ, it may promote, a calmer mood, to con- 
struct a more elaborate and less unworthy memorial. 

For the purposes of this moment and place, indeed^ 
no more is needed. What is there for this Court, or 
for this Bar, to learn from me, here and now of him? 
The year and the day of his birth — that birth-place 
on the frontier, yet bleak and waste ; the well of 
which his childhood drank — dug by that father of 
whom he has said, " That through the fire and blood 
of seven years of revolutionary war, he shrank from 
no danger, no toil, no sacrifice, to serve his country, 
and to raise his children to a condition better than 
his own;" the elm tree that father planted, fallen 
now, as father and son have fallen; that training of 
the giant infancy, on Catechism and Bible, and Watts's 
version of the Psalms, and the traditions of Plymouth, 
and Fort AVilliam and Mary, and the Revolution, and 
the age of Washington and Franklin, on the banks 
of the Merrimack, flowing sometimes in flood and 
anger from his secret springs in the crystal hills; 
the two district schoolmasters, Chase and Tappan; 
the village library ; the dawning of the love and am- 
bition of letters ; the few months at Exeter and Bos- 
cawen, the life of college, the probationary season of 
school-teaching, the clerkship in the Fryeburg Registry 
of Deeds ; his admission to the Bar, presided over by 



86 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

judges like Smith, illustrated by practisers such as 
Mason, where, by the studies, in the contentions of 
nine years, he laid the foundation of the professional 
mind; his irresistible attraction to public life, the 
oration on Commerce, the llockingham Resolutions, his 
first term of four years' service in Congress, when, 
by one bound, he sprang to his place by the side of 
the foremost of the rising American statesmen ; his re- 
moval to this State, and then the double and parallel 
current in which his life, studies, thoughts, cares, have 
since flowed, bearing him to the leadership of the Bar 
by universal acclaim ; bearing him to the leadership 
of public life; last of that surpassing triumvirate, 
Bhall we say the greatest, the most widely celebrated 
and admired ; — all these things, to their minutest 
details, are known and rehearsed familiarly. Happier 
than the younger Pliny, happier than Cicero, he has 
found his historian, unsolicited, in his lifetime — and 
his countrymen have him all by heart! 

There is, then, nothing to tell you ; nothing to bring 
to mind. And then, if I may borrow the language 
of one of his historians and friends, one of those, 
through w^hose beautiful pathos the common sorrow 
uttered itself yesterday in Faneuil Hall — "I dare not 
come here, and dismiss, in a few summary paragraphs, 
the character of one who has filled such a space in 
the history, who holds such a place in -the heart of 
his country. It would be a disrespectful famiharity, 
to a man of liis lofty spirit, his great soul, his rich 
endowments, his long and honorable life, to endeavor 
thus to weigh and estimate them ; " — a half-hour of 
words, a handful of earth, for fifty years of great 
deeds, on high places! 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUTT COURT. 87 

But although the time does not require any thing 
elaborated and adequate, — forbids it rather, — some 
broken sentences of veneration and love may be in- 
dulged to the sorrow which oppresses us. 

There presents itself, on the first, and to any ob- 
servation of Mr. Webster's life and character, a two- 
fold eminence ; eminence of the very highest rank in 
a two-fold field of intellectual and public display, the 
profession of the law, and the profession of statesman- 
ship, of which it would not be easy to recall any 
parallel in the biography of illustrious men. 

AVithout seeking for parallels, and without asserting 
tliat they do not exist, consider that he was by uni- 
versal designation the leader of the general American 
Bar; and that he was also by an equally universal 
designation foremost of her statesmen living at his 
death ; inferior to not one who has lived and acted 
since the opening of his own public life. Look at 
these aspects of his greatness separately, — and from 
opposite sides of the surpassing elevation. Consider 
tliat his single career at the Bar may seem to have 
been enough to employ the largest faculties without 
repose, for a lifetime; and that if then and thus 
the "tnjinitus foremium rerum labor ^' should have con- 
ducted him to a mere professional reward — a Bencli 
of Chancery or Law — the crown of the first of advo- 
cates — jurisperitorum cloqueniissimus — to the pure and 
mere honors of a great magistrate ; that that would be 
as much as is allotted to the ablest in the distribu- 
tion of fame. Even that half — if I may say so — of 
his illustrious reputation — how long the labor to win 
it — how worthy of all that labor ! Ue was bred first 



88 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

in the severest school of the common kiw, in which 
its doctrines were expounded by Smith, and its ad- 
ministration shaped and directed by Mason, — and its 
foundation principles, its liistorical sources and illus- 
trations, its connection with the parallel series of sta- 
tutory enactments, its modes of reasoning, and the 
evidence of its truths, he grasped easily and com- 
pletely; and I have myself heard him say, that for 
many years while still at that Bar, he tried more 
causes and argued more questions of fact to the jury, 
than perhaps any other member of the profession any- 
where. I have heard from others how even then he ex- 
emplified the same direct, clear, and forcible exhibition 
of proofs, and the reasonings appropriate to proofs — 
as well as the same marvellous power of discerning in- 
stantly what we call the decisive points of the cause in 
law and fact — by which he was later more widely 
celebrated. This was the first epoch in his professional 
training. 

With the commencement of his public life, or with 
his later removal to this State, began the second 
epoch of his professional training — conducting him 
throuo-h the gradation of the national tribunals to the 
study and practice of the more flexible, elegant, and 
scientific jurisprudence of commerce and of chancery 
— and to the grander and less fettered investigations 
of international, prize, and constitutional law — and 
irivino- him to breathe the air of a more famous fo- 
rum ; in a more public presence ; with more variety 
of competition, although he never met abler men, as I 
have many times heard him say, than some of those 
who initiated him in the rugged discipline of the 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 89 

Courts of New Hampshire; and thus, at length, by 
these studies ; these labors ; this contention ; continued 
■without repose, he came, now many years ago, to 
stand omnium asscnsu at the summit of the American Bar. 
It is common, and it is easy, in the case of all in 
such position, to point out other lawyers, here and 
there, as possessing some special qualification or at- 
tainment more remarkably, perhaps, because more ex- 
clusively; — to say of one that he has more cases in 
his recollection, at any given moment ; or that he was 
earlier grounded in equity ; or has gathered more 
black-letter or civil law; or knowledge of Spanish or 
Western titles ; and these comparisons were sometimes 
made with him. But when you sought a counsel of 
the first-rate for the great cause, who would most 
surely discern and most powerfully expound the exact 
law, required by the controversy, in season for use — 
who could most skilfully encounter the opposing law, 
under whose power of analysis, persuasion, and dis- 
play, the asserted right would assume the most pro- 
bable aspect before the intelligence of the Judge; 
wlio, if the inquiry, became blended with, or resolved 
into facts, could most completely develop and most 
irresistibly expose them; one, "the law's whole thun- 
der born to Avield " — when you sought such a coun- 
sel, and could have the choice, I think the universal 
profession would have turned to him. And this would 
be so in nearly every description of cause, in any de- 
partment. Some able men wield civil inquiries with 
a peculiar ability, some criminal. How lucidly and 
how deepl}^ he unfolded a question of property you 
all know. But then, with what address, feeling, pathos, 



12 



90 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

and prudence lie defended; with wliat dignity and 
crushing power, accuscdorio sjnritu, he prosecuted the 
accused of crime, whom he believed to have been 
guilty, few have seen; but none who have seen can 
ever forget it. 

Some scenes there are ; some Alpine eminences 
rising above the high table-land of such a professional 
life, to which, in the briefest tribute, we should love 
to follow him. We recall that day, for an instance, 
when he first announced, with decisive display, what 
manner of man he was to the Supreme Court of the 
Nation. It was in 1818, and it was in the argument 
of the case of Dartmouth College. William Pinkney 
was recruiting his greal faculties, and replenishing 
that reservoir of professional and elegant acquisition 
in Europe. Samuel Dexter, "the honorable man, and 
the counsellor, and the eloquent orator," was in his 
grave. The boundless old-school learning of Luther 
Martin; the silver voice and infinite analytical inge- 
nuity and resource of Jones; the fervid genius of 
Emmett, pouring itself along immenso ore ; the ripe and 
beautiful culture of Wirt and Hopkinson, the steel 
point unseen, not unfelt, beneath the foliage ; Harper, 
himself, statesman as well as lawj^er, these and such 
as these, were left of that noble Bar. That day Mr. 
Webster opened the cause of Dartmouth College to a 
tribunal unsurpassed on earth in all that gives illus- 
tration to a bench of law, ]iot one of whom any longer 
survives. 

One would love to linger on the scene — when, 
after a masterly argument of the law, carrying, as 
we may now know, conviction to the general mind of 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT CoLllT. 01 

tlie court, and vindicating and settling for his lifetime 
his place in that forum, he paused to enter, with an 
altered feeling, tone, and manner, with these words on 
his peroration — "I have conducted my alma mater to 
this presence, that if she must fall, she may fliU in 
lier robes, and with dignity," and then broke forth in 
that strain of sublime and pathetic eloquence, of which 
we know not much more than that, in its progress, 
Marshall, the intellectual — the self-controlled — the un- 
emotional, announced, visibly, the presence of the unac- 
customed enchantment. 

Other forensic triumphs crowd on us — in other 
competition — with other issues. But I must commit 
them to the historian of constitutional jurisprudence. 

And now, if this transcendent professional reputa- 
tion were all of Mr. Webster, it might be practicable, 
though not easy, to find its parallel elsewhere, in our 
own, or in European or classical biography. 

But when you consider that side by side with this, 
there Avas growing up that other reputation — that of 
the first American statesman, — that for thirty-three 
years, and those embracing his most herculean works 
at the bar, he was engaged as a member of either 
Iluuse, or in the highest of the Executive departments, 
in the conduct of the largest national affairs — in the 
treatment of the largest national questions — in de- 
bate with the highest abilities of American public 
life — conducting diplomatic intercourse in delicate re- 
lations, with aU manner of foreign powers — invest- 
igating whole classes of truths, totally unlike the 
tmths of the -Mw, and resting on principles totally 
distinct, — and that here, too, he was wise, safe, con- 



92 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

trolling, trusted, the foremost man; tliat Europe had 
come to see in his life a guaranty for justice, for 
peace, for the best hopes of civilization; and America 
to feel surer of her glory and her safety, as his great 
arm enfolded her — you see how rare, how solitary 
almost was the actual greatness ! Who any where has 
won, as he had, the double fame, and worn the double 
wreath of Murray and Chatham, of Dunning and Fox, 
of Erskine and Pitt, of William Pinkney and Rufus 
King, in one blended and transcendent superiority? 

I cannot attempt to grasp and sum up the aggre- 
gate of the service of his public life at such a mo- 
ment as this — and it is needless. That life comprised 
a term of more than thirty-three years. It produced 
a body of performance, of which I may say generally, 
it was all which the first abilities of the country and 
time, employed with unexampled toil, stimulated by 
the noblest . patriotism ; in the highest places of the 
state — in the fear of God — in the presence of nations 
— could possibly compass. 

He came into Congress after the war of 1812 had 
begun, and though probably deeming it unnecessary, 
according to the highest standards of public necessity, 
in his private character — and objecting, in his public 
character, to some of the details of the policy by 
which it was prosecuted, and standing by party ties 
in general opposition to the administration — he never 
breathed a sentipent calculated to depress the tone 
of the public mind ; to aid or comfort the enemy ; to 
check or chill the stirrings of that new, passionate, 
unf|uenchable spirit of nationality, which then was re- 
vealed, or kindled to burn till we go down to the 
tombs of States. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 93 

With the peace of 1815 his more cherished public 
labors began ; and thenceforward has he devoted him- 
self — the ardor of his civil youth — the energies of 
his maturest manhood — the autumnal wisdom of the 
ripened year — to the offices of legislation and diplo- 
macy; of preserving the peace — keeping the honor — 
establishing the boundaries, and vindicating the neu- 
tral rights of his country — restoring a sound currency, 
and laying its foundations sure and deep — in up- 
holding public credit — in promoting foreign commerce 
and domestic industry — in developing our uncounted 
material resources — giving the lake and the river to 
trade — and vindicating and interpreting the Constitu- 
tion and the law. On all these subjects, on all mea- 
sures practically in any degree affecting them, he has 
inscril)ed his opinions and left the traces of his hand. 
Everywhere the philosophical and patriot statesman 
and thinker will find that he has been before him, — 
lighting the way, — sounding the abyss. His weighty 
language, his sagacious warnings, his great maxims 
of empire, will be raised to view, and live to be deci- 
phered when the final catastrophe shall lift the granite 
foundation in fragments from its bed. 

In this connection I cannot but remark to how ex- 
traordinary an extent had Mr. Webster, by his acts, 
words, thoughts, or the events of his life, associated 
himself forever in the memory of all of us with every 
historical incident, or at least with every historical 
epoch; with every policy, with every glory, with 
every great name and fundamental institution, and 
grand or beautiful image, which are peculiarly and 
properly American. Look backwards to the planting 



94 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

of Plyiuoutli and Jamestown, to the various scenes of 
colonial life in peace and war; to the opening, and 
march, and close of the revolutionary drama; to the 
age of the Constitution ; to Washington, and Franklin, 
and Adams, and Jefferson; to the whole train of 
causes, from the Reformation downwards, which pre- 
pared us to he republicans, — to that other train of 
causes which led us to be unionists. Look round on 
field, workshop, and deck, and hear the music of labor 
rewarded, fed, and protected ; look on the bright sis- 
terhood of the States, each singing as a seraph in her 
motion, yet blending in a common harmony, and there 
is nothing which does not bring him. by some tie, to the 
memory of America. We seem to see his form and 
hear his deep, grave speech everywhere. By some 
felicity of his personal life ; by some wise, deep, or 
beautiful word, spoken or written ; by some service 
of his own, or some commemoration of the services of 
others, it has come to pass that " our granite hills, 
our inland seas, and prairies, and fresh, unbounded, 
magnificent wilderness;" our encircling ocean; the 
rock of the Pilgrims ; our new-born sister of the 
Pacific ; our popular assemblies ; our free schools ; all 
our cherished doctrines of education, and of the influ- 
ence of religion, and material policy, and the law, and 
the Constitution, give us back his name. What Ame- 
rican landscape will you look on; what subject .of 
American interest will you study; what source of 
hope or of anxiety, as an American, will you acknow- 
ledge, that it does not recall him? 

I shall not venture in this rapid and general recol- 
lection of Mr. Webster, to attempt to analyze that 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 95 

intellectual power wliich all admit to have been so 
extraordinary, or to compare or contrast it with the 
mental greatness of others — in variety or degree — of 
the living or the dead; or even to appreciate exactly, 
and in reference to canons of art, his single attribute 
of eloquence. Consider, however, the remarkable pheno- 
menon of excellence in three unkindred, one mischt 
liave thought, incompatible forms of public speech — 
that of the forum, with its double audience of bench 
and jury, of the halls of legislation, and of the most 
thronged and tumultuous assemblies of the people. Con- 
sider, further, that this multiform eloquence, exactly 
as his words fell, became at once so much accession 
to permanent literature, in the strictest sense — solid, 
attractive, and ricli — and ask how often in the his- 
tory of public life such a thing has been exemplified. 
Recall what pervaded all these forms of display, and 
every effort in every form, that union of naked intel- 
lect in its largest measure, which penetrates to the 
exact trutli of the matter in hand by intuition or by 
inference, and discerns every thing which may make 
it intelligible, probable, or credible to another, with an 
emotional and moral nature profound, passionate, and 
ready to kindle, and with an imagination enough to 
supply a hundred-fold more of illustration and aggran- 
dizement than his taste suffered him to accept ; that 
union of greatness of soul with depth of heart, which 
made his speaking almost more an exhibition of cha- 
racter than of mere genius ; the style not merel}'' 
pure, clear Saxon, but so constructed, so numerous as 
far as becomes prose, so forcible, so abounding in un- 
labored felicities, the words so choice, the epithet so 



96 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

pictured, the matter absolute truth, or the most 
exact and specious resembhrnce the human wit can 
devise, the treatment of the subject, if you have re- 
gard to the kind of truth he had to handle, political, 
ethical, legal, as deep, as complete as Paley's, or 
Locke's, or Butler's, or Alexander Hamilton's, of their 
subjects ; yet that depth and that comj^leteness of 
sense, made transparent as through crystal waters, 
all embodied in harmonious or well-composed periods, 
raised on winged language, vivified, fused, and poured 
along in a tide of emotion, fervid and incaj)able to 
be withstood — recall the form, the eye, the brow, the 
tone of voice, the presence of the intellectual king 
of men — recall him thus, and in the language of Mr. 
Justice Story, commemorating Samuel Dexter, we may 
well "rejoice that we have lived in the same age, 
that we have listened to his eloquence, and been in- 
structed hy his wisdom." 

I cannot leave the subject of his eloquence without 
returning to a thought I have advanced already. All 
that he has left — or the larger portion of all — is 
the record of spoken words. His works, as already 
collected, extend to many volumes — a library of rea- 
son and eloquence, as Gibbon has said of Cicero's — 
but they are volumes of speeches only, or mainly ; 
and yet who does not rank him as a great American 
author — an author as truly expounding, and as cha- 
racteristically exemplifying in a pure, genuine, and 
harmonious English style, the mind, thought, point of 
view of objects, and essential nationality of his coun- 
try, as any other of our authors, professionally so 
denominated ? Against the maxim of Mr. Fox, his 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 97 

speeches read well, and yet were good speeches — 
great speeches in the delivery. For so grave were 
they ; so thoughtful and true ; so much the eloquence 
of reason at last; so strikingly always they contrived 
to link the immediate topic with other and broader 
principles, ascending easily to widest generalizations ; 
so happy was the reconciliation of the qualities which 
engage the attention of hearers, yet reward tlie peru- 
sal of students, so critically did they keep the right 
side of the line which parts eloquence from rhetoric, and 
so far do they rise above the penury of mere debate, 
that the general reason of the country has enshrined 
them at once, and forever, among our classics. 

It is a common belief that Mr, Webster was a vari- 
ous reader; and I think it is true, even to a greater 
degree than has been believed. In his profession of 
politics, nothing I think, worthy of attention, had es- 
caped him, nothing of the " ancient or modern pru- 
dence," nothing which Greek or Roman, or European 
speculation in that walk had explored, or Greek or 
Roman, or European or universal history, or public 
biography exemplified. I shall not soon forget with 
what admiration he spake, at an interview to which 
he admitted me while in the Law School at Cam- 
bridge, of the politics and ethics of Aristotle, and of 
the mighty mind which, as he said, seemed to have 
" thought through " so many of the great problems 
which form the discipline of social man. American 
history, and American political literature he had by 
heart, — the long series of influences which trained us 
for representative and free government; that other 
series of influences, which moulded us into a united 

13 



1)8 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

government; the Colonial era; tlie age of controversy 
before the Revolution ; every scene, and every person 
in that great tragic action; every question which has 
successively engaged our politics, and every name 
which has figured in them, — the whole stream of our 
time was open, clear, and present ever to his eye. 

Beyond his profession of politics, so to call it, he 
had been a diligent and choice reader, as his extraor- 
dinary style in part reveals, and I think the love of 
reading Avould have gone with him to a later and 
riper age, if to such an age it had been the will of 
God to reserve him. This is no place or time to ap- 
preciate this branch of his acquisitions ; but there is 
an interest inexpressible in knowing who were any of 
the chosen from among the great dead in the library 
of such a man. Others may correct me, but I should 
say of that interior and narrower circle, were Cicero, 
Virgil, Shakspeare — whom he knew familiarly as the 
Constitution — Bacon, Milton, Burke, Johnson — to 
Avhom, I hope it is not pedantic nor fanciful to say, I 
often thought his nature presented some resemblance ; 
the same " abundance of the general jDropositions re- 
quired for explaining a difficulty and refuting a 
sophism, copiously and promptly occurring to him ; " 
the same kindness of heart, and wealth of sensi- 
bility ; under a manner, of course, more courteous and 
gracious, yet more sovereign ; the same sufficient, yet 
not predominant imagination, stooping ever to truth, 
and giving aflluence, vivacity, and attraction, to a 
powerful, correct, and weighty style of prose. 

I cannot leave this life and character, without se- 
lecting and dwelling a moment on one or two of his 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 99 

traits, or virtues, or felicities, a little longer. There 
is a collective impression made by the Avhole of an 
eminent person's life, beyond and other than, and apart 
from that which the mere general biographer would 
aflbrd the means of explaining. There is an influence 
of a great man derived from things indescribable al- 
most, or incapable of enumeration, or singly insufficient 
to account for it; but through which his spirit trans- 
pires, and his individuality goes forth on the contem- 
porary generation. And thus, I should say, one grand 
tendency of his life and character was to elevate the 
whole tone of the public mind. lie did this, indeed, 
not merely by example. lie did it by dealing as he 
thought, truly, and in manly fashion, with that public 
mind. lie evinced his love of the people, not so much 
by honeyed phrases, as by good counsels and useful 
service, vera pro gratis. He showed how he appre- 
ciated them, by submitting sound arguments to their 
understandings, and right motives to thek free will, 
lie came before them less with flattery than Avith in- 
struction; less with a vocabulary larded with the 
words, humanity, and philanthrophy, and progress, and 
brotherhood, than with a scheme of politics, an educa- 
tional, social, and governmental system, which would 
liavc made them prosperous, happy, and great. 

What the erreatest of the Greek historians said of 
Pericles, we all feel might be said of him, " lie did not 
so much follow as lead the people, because he framed 
not his words to please them, like one who is gaining 
power by unworthy means, but was able and dared the 
o\\ strength of his high character, even to brave their 
anger by contradicting their will." 



100 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

I should indicate it as another influence of his life, 
acts, and opinions, that it was in an extraordinary 
degree uniformly and liberally conservative. He saw 
with vision as of a prophet, that if our system of 
united government can be maintained till a nation- 
ality shall be generated of due intensity and due 
comprehension, a glory indeed millennial, a progress 
without end, a triumph of humanity hitherto unseen, 
were ours ; and therefore he addressed himself to 
maintain that united government. 

Standing on the rock of Plymouth, he bade distant 
generations hail, and saw them rising, " demanding 
life, impatient for the skies," from what were " fresh, 
unbounded, magnificent wildernesses," — from the shore 
of the great tranquil sea, — not yet become ours. 
But observe to what he welcomes them, by what he 
would bless them. " It is to good government ; " it 
is to " treasures of science, and delights of learning ; " 
it is to the " SAveets of domestic life, the immeasu- 
rable good of rational existence, the immortal hopes of 
Christianity, the light of everlasting truth." 

It will be happy, if the wisdom and temper of his 
administration of our foreign affairs shall preside in 
the time which is at hand. Sobered, instructed by 
the examples and warnings of all the past, he yet 
gathered from the study and comparison of all the 
eras, that there is a silent progress of the race, with- 
out pause, without haste, without return, to which the 
counsellings of history are to be accommodated by a 
wise philosophy. More than, or as much as that of 
any of our public characters, his statesmanship was 
one which recognized a Europe, an old world, but yet 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 101 

grasped the capital idea of the American position, 
and deduced from it the whole fashion and color of 
its policy; which discerned that we are to play a 
high part in human afFau's, but discerned also what 
part it is, peculiar, distant, distinct, and grand as our 
hemisphere ; an influence, not a contact, — the stage, 
the drama, the catastrophe, all but the audience all 
our own; and if ever he felt himself at a loss, he 
consulted reverently the genius of Washington. 

In bringing these memories to a conclusion, for I 
omit many things because I dare not trust myself to 
speak of them, I shaU not be misunderstood, or give 
offence, if I hope that one other trait in his public 
character, one doctrine, rather, of his political creed, 
ma}"- be remembered and be appreciated. It is one 
of the two fundamental precepts in which Plato, as 
expounded by the great master of Latin eloquence 
and reason and morals, comprehends the duty of those 
who share in the conduct of the state, — " Ut, quce- 
cunque agiint, TOTUM corpus reipuUicce curent ; nediim 
partem aliquam tuentur, reliquas deserant" that they com- 
prise in their care the whole body of the republic, 
nor keep one part and desert another. He gives the 
reason, one reason, of the precept, — " Qui autem parti 
civiwn considunt, partem negligunt, rem j^ermeiosissimam in 
civitatem inducunt, scdiiioncm atque discordiam" The 
patriotism which embraces less than the whole, in- 
duces sedition and discord, the last evil of the state. 

How profoundly he had comprehended this truth ; 
with what persistency, with what passion, from the 
first hour he became a public man, to the last beat 
of the great heart, he cherished it ; how little he ac- 



1U2 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

counted the good, tlie praise, the blame, of this locality 
or that, in comparison of the larger good, and the 
general and thoughtful approval of his own and our 
whole America, she this day feels and announces. 
Wheresoever a drop of her blood flows in the veins 
of man, this trait is felt and appreciated. The hunter 
beyond Superior, the fisherman on the deck of the 
nio-h nidit-foundered skiff, the sailor on the uttermost 
sea, will feel, as he hears these tidings, that the pro- 
tection of a sleepless, all-embracing parental care, is 
withdrawn from him for a space, and that his path- 
way henceforward is more solitary and less safe than 
before. 

But I cannot pursue these thoughts. Among the 
eulogists who have just uttered the eloquent sorrow 
of England at the death of the great Duke, one has 
employed an image, and an idea, which I venture to 
modify and appropriate. 

" The Northmen's image of death is finer than that 
of other climes ; no skeleton, but a gigantic figure 
that envelops men within the massive folds of its dark 
garment. Webster seems so enshrouded from us, as 
the last of the mighty Three, themselves following a 
mighty series ; the greatest closing the procession. 
The robe draws round him, and the era is past." 

Yet liow much there is which that all-ample fold 
shall not hide; — the recorded wisdom; the great ex- 
ample ; the assured immortality. 

They speak of monuments ! 

Nothing can cover his high fame but heaven, 
No pyramids set-off his memories 
But the eternal substance of his greatness ; 
To whicli T Icavo liiiii. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 103 

George T. Curtis, Esq., followed IMr. Choate : 

May it please your Honors — In the general sorrow 
which pervades all hearts, perhaps the consoling re- 
flections which I am able to bring from the last 
earthly presence of the great departed will find ap- 
propriate expression here. 

We have all witnessed his life. We have known 
him in the Senate, in the forum, in the popular 
assembly, in the social circle ; in all the works and 
the duties of the manifold relations which he filled 
with his own peculiar greatness. 

It was my privilege, also, to have witnessed his 
death, so grand, so tranquil, that we who stood and 
watched the moments that were slowly bearing away 
from us his great spirit, could scarcely feel the weight 
of the affliction which was descending upon. our souls, 
and when in the silence of that chamber, wliich the 
breath of an infant would have broken, the dread an- 
nouncement came at last, we seemed to have watched, 
and served, and prayed, not at a dissolution of this 
"mortal coil," but at a translation of some great ser- 
vant of God into the realms of bliss. 

It is known to all that the death of Mr. Webster 
was, in all respects, worthy of his life. It was more. 
It was the consummation of his character, the crown- 
ing glory of his whole mortal existence. It was his 
singular happiness to have been able to approach the 
dark portals of the tomb with a perfectly distinct and 
clear perception, that they had been opened to receive 
him; and yet with his mind under its own entire 
control, as completely as it had ever been, since it 
came from his Maker's hands. 



104 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

The manner in which he kept himself in a per- 
fectly elevated, noble, and religious state of mind, 
and yet never lost sight of the smallest duties, or 
failed in the expression of a kind thought to those 
about him, seemed to me to mark the greatness of 
his nature, more than all the other proofs of intel- 
lectual supremacy which his life has exhibited. His 
vast intellect never changed its relations to any sub- 
ject, any thing, or any person j never lost the sense 
of what was due to liis own character and his own 
position among men ; never withdrew itself from a 
single occupation ; never exchanged the activity of 
life for the imbecilities of disease ; never yielded to 
complaint; never surrendered itself to aught but the 
final grasp of death, wliich shut it from earthly mani- 
festation. 

In all this extraordinary exhibition of the power 
and balance of his mind, there was nothing of Roman 
stoicism. A more than Roman dignity enveloped him 
to the end. His warm affections remained unchanged, 
overflowing to all around him ; and he could not so 
have died if he had not been sustained by a religious 
faith, such a mind like his must possess if it lives at 
all. There was nothing in his faith of a technical 
character. No expression escaped him which would 
mark him as of this or that theology, or of any 
church, save the universal church of Christ. " What," 
said he, to those who gathered about him, " what 
would be the condition of any of us without the hope 
of immortality ? " 

What is there to rest that hope upon but the Gos- 
pel ? And it was while resting his hope upon that 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 105 

foundation that he could look back over his long lite 
and say, — " My general wish on earth has been to do 
mv ^Maker's will. I thank liiiu. I thank him for the 
means of doing some little good for these beloved ob- 
jects, for the blessings that surround me, for my 
nature and associations. I thank him that I am to 
die under so many circumstances of love and affec- 
tion." It was his good fortune, also, — in which, con- 
sidering how far from that spot his public duties 
considerably drew him, we may see almost a special 
Providence, — that he died in the home of his affec- 
tions, and away from all the scenes and exactions of 
political strife. 

Tliere his last days, and even hours, were given 
peacefully to the great concerns of his country, from 
which his attention was never withdrawn, until the 
messenger from another world was actually at the 
door. There he found solace to his declining strength, 
amid the scenes of nature which he so passionately 
loved, and in which he had been so long accustomed 
to renew his power. 

There were the graves of the loved and lost who 
had gone before him ; there was the beautiful home, 
which his fame has made historical, and whicli lie 
fondly trusted would remain to his blood and name 
througli the generations that still gather around its 
hearth. There his great heart could expand itself 
to the love of those nearest and dearest to him on 
earth, and there he could receive as he did receive 
from those not present as well as from those who 
were about him, a ministry of veneration and love 

which will be to them a precious recollection forever. 

It 



106 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

Mr. Justice Sprague replied: 

The event we deplore is solemn, is appalling, not 
only as a calamity and for the void which it creates, 
but still more as bringing with it an overwhelming 
sense of the nothingness of human power. Others 
may have excelled Mr. Webster in some intellectual 
endowment, but in the combination of the statesman, 
the orator, the diplomatist, the jurist, and the advo- 
cate, the present age has produced no equal, and no 
age a superior. 

It was my lot to be associated with him in both 
branches of the National Legislature, and as a mem- 
ber of the same political party, of the same profes- 
sion, and from the same section of the country. It is 
now nearly twenty-seven years since I entered the 
House of Representatives, of which he was then a 
member. The preeminence asserted for him by his 
friends, was not then conceded by his opponents. But 
it was soon observable that whenever a debate arose 
in which Mr. Webster took an earnest part, even those 
who were most strenuous in denying his general supe- 
riority, were constrained to admit that upon that occa- 
sion he had excelled all others. These occasions at 
length became so multiplied, with so many opponents, 
and upon such a variety of topics, that in spite of 
sectional jealousy, of party .prejudice and intolerance, 
and of personal partialities and local pride, the admis- 
sion of his superiority was forced upon unwilling 
minds, and from reluctant lips, and he stood confessed 
by all unequalled in intellectual power. In the most 
violent times, under the most exasperating attacks, 
personal and political, he never transcended the limits 



P110CEEDD»GS OF THE CIRCUIT COUllT. 107 

of good taste or parliamentary decorum — never vio- 
lated the courtesy and dignity of senatorial debate. 

Should any be disposed to say of him as was said 
of Burke — 

Bom for the universe, he narrowed his mind, 
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind, 

it should be answered also, that what he gave to 
party he gave to mankind; for he established prin- 
ciples and elucidated truths of universal application 
and eternal duration. 

No man can read his speeches without clearer views 
upon great political problems, without a more pro- 
found comprehension of the true foundation upon 
which civil society should be erected, and the just 
rules by which its affairs should be conducted. 

No candid mind can rise from the perusal of his 
works without a more just and elevated appreciation 
of our own Constitution and Government, a warmer 
and more exalted patriotism, without being a truer 
and firmer friend of real republicanism, of justice, of 
law, of order, of universal regulated liberty. 

The present occasion does not permit me to verify 
these general remarks by specific and detailed refer- 
ences, nor has the time arrived when his later efforts 
can be dispassionately considered. 

But there is one speech made, so long since as to 
be now matter of history, and involving no topic of 
personal excitement, of which I have been especially 
requested to speak, because it is the most celebrated, 
and of the then Senators from New England, I am, 
with one exception, the only survivor j and it is pro- 



108 WEBSTER MEMORLAJi. 

per to speak of it here and now, because a great 
vital question of constitutional law was by that speech 
settled as completely and irrevocably as it could have 
been by the greatest minds in the highest judicial 
tribunals. 

JMr. Foot's resolutions involved merely the question 
of limiting or extending the survey of the public 
lands. Upon this, Mr. Benton and Mr. Hayne ad- 
dressed the Senate, condemning the policy of the 
Eastern States, as illiberal towards the West. Mr. Web- 
ster replied, in vindication of New England and the 
policy of the Government. It was then that General 
Ha3aie made the assault which that sj)eech repelled. 

It has been asked if it be possible that that reply 
was made Avithout previous preparation. There could 
have been no special preparation before the speech 
began to which it was an answer. When General 
Hayne closed, Mr. Webster followed, with the interval 
only of the usual adjournment of one night. 

His reply was made to repel an attack, sudden, 
unexpected, and almost unexampled, an attack upon 
Mr. Webster personally, upon Massachusetts and New 
England, and upon the Constitution. 

There can be little doubt that this attack was the 
result of premeditation, concert, and arrangement. His 
assailant selected his own time, and that too, pecu- 
liarly inconvenient to Mr. Webster, for at that mo- 
ment the Supreme Court were proceeding in the 
hearing of a cause of great importance, in which he 
was leading counsel. For this reason, he requested, 
through a friend, a postponement of the debate. Gene- 
ral Hayne objected, and the request was refused. The 



PROCEEDINGS OP THE CIRCUIT COURT. 109 

assailant, too, selected his own ground, and made liis 
choice of topics, without reference to the resolution 
before the Senate, or the legitimate subject of debate. 
The time, the matter, and the manner, indicate that 
the attack was made with a design to crush a formi- 
dable political opponent. To this end, personal histor}^, 
the annals of New England and of the federal party 
were ransacked for materials. It was attempted to 
make him responsible, not only for what was his own, 
but for the opinions and conduct of others. All the 
errors and delinquencies, real or supposed, of Massa- 
chusetts and the Eastern States, and of the federal 
party, during the war of 1812, and throughout their 
lustory, were to be accumulated on him. It was sup- 
posed, that, as a representative, he would be driven 
to attempt to defend what was indefensible, and to up- 
hold what could not be sustained, and as a federalist, 
to oppose the popular resolutions of '98. 

Gen. Ilayne heralded his speech with a declaration 
of war, with taunts and threats, vaunting anticipated 
triumph, as if to paralyze by intimidation ; saying that 
he had something rankling in his breast, and that he 
would carry the war into Africa, until he had obtain- 
ed indemnity for the past, and security for the future, 

Mr. AVebster evidently felt the magnitude of the 
occasion, and a consciousness that he was more than 
equal to it. On no other occasion, although I have 
heard him hundreds of times, have I seen him so 
thoroughly aroused. Yet when he commenced, and 
throughout the whole, he was perfectly self-possessed 
and self-controlled. Never was his bearing more lofty, 
his person more majestic, his manner more appropriate 
and impressive. 



110 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

At first a few of his opponents made some show of 
indifference. But the power of the orator soon swept 
away all affectation, and a solemn, deep, absorbing in- 
terest was manifested by all, and continued even 
through his profound discussion of Constitutional law. 

When he closed, the impression upon all was too 
deep for utterance, and, to this day, no one who was 
present has spoken of that speech but as a matchless 
achievement and a complete triumph. When he sat 
down. General Hayne arose, and endeavored to restate 
and reenforce his argument. This instantly called 
forth from Mr, Webster that final, condensed reply 
wMch has the force of a moral demonstration. 

The value of that speech cannot be measured, with- 
out a just appreciation of our Constitution, and of re- 
publican government. Nullification had become formi- 
dable. It had been practically adopted in high places, 
and was sustained by several States, and some of the 
ablest minds of the South, and was daily gaining 
strength, as the offspring of the resolutions of '98. By 
this single effort that deadly heresy was prostrated 
and crushed forever. 

No speech, ancient or modern, has within the same 
time convinced so many minds, and produced so great 
and salutary results. It was not addressed merely to 
the enlightened and reflecting audience around him, 
but to this great reading nation, and to the civilized 
world. If the doctrines of General Hayne had pre- 
vailed, this Union would have been shattered into 
fragments ; but Mr. Webster and his doctrines have 
triumphed, and our Union remains, in all its magni- 
ficence and beneficence. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. Ill 

When Mr. Webster first entered the State Depart- 
ment, our foreign affairs, particularly with Great Bri- 
tain, were complicated and critical in the extreme. 
Adverse military forces had been gathered upon our 
north-eastern boundary. In relation to the affair of 
the Caroline, an unsound doctrine of international law 
had been put forth on our part, which, if it had been 
carried out by the threatened punishment of the sol- 
dier McLeod, would immediately have brought a hostile 
fleet upon our coast. The matter of the Creole, too, 
was a further disturbing cause. Mr. Webster extri- 
cated the Government from the false position in which 
it had been placed by his predecessor, by frankly 
conceding what we could not justly maintain, and 
planting himself only upon the right, 

Ilis state papers, during the administration of Har- 
rison and Tyler, are unsurpassed in power, truth, and 
propriety. His diplomacy was consummate. It attain- 
ed complete success, and entitled him to the gratitude 
of his country and the world. If his principles and 
practice should be followed by all nations, war would 
cease, and the reign of peace be universal. 

Men distinguished in political life have often at- 
tempted in vain to command success at the bar, while 
great lawyers have signally failed in a parliamentary 
career. Distinct powers are required for each. For 
the one, the power of resolving a question into its 
elements ; and for the other, the power of combina- 
tion, of dealing with masses, and of holding great sub- 
jects in a comprehensive grasp. Mr. Webster pos- 
sessed both, preeminently. 



112 WEBSTER MEMORIAL.' 

As a lawyer, lie for nearly thirty years stood at 
the head of the Bar of the United States, without a 
rival ; while, at the same time, he maintained his pre- 
eminence as a statesman and an orator, in the halls 
of Congress, or at the head of a Cabinet. In consult- 
ation, no man was more weighty ; in trials at the bar, 
no man was his equal. lie possessed every requisite 
for success in the highest degree. Eloquent, saga- 
cious, fearless, circumspect, ready, learned, and pro- 
found. No other lawyer has so ably expounded the 
Constitution, and no one has done so much to main- 
tain it upon its true foundation, and in its just pro- 
portions. Superior as he must have felt himself to 
be, to those whom he generally addressed, that supe- 
riority was never asserted in his manner towards the 
bench, which was uniformly respectful and deferential. 
He wished the law to be revered, and he knew that 
reverence for it could not be maintained without re- 
spect for the tribunals by which it is administered. 
Faithful to his clients, he was also true to the court, 
and never, for temporary success, exerted his great 
powers to subvert fundamental principles, or confound 
the rules of right. He never used his gigantic 
strength to remove the landmarks of the law. He 
dealt with facts as an advocate, but with the law as 
a jurist. It was with him a science, upon which de- 
pended public and private right, social order, the 
peace, the existence of civilized society. I leave to 
the learned Justice of the Supreme Court, who has 
been so recently and intimately associated with him 
at the bar, to present a more complete delineation of 
his forensic character. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIKCUIT COURT. 113 

Extraordinary as wore tho natural gifts of the great 
departed, he did not trust to them alone. lie was 
laborious, but not with incessant toil. He gave liini- 
self frequent intervals of relaxation and repose ; but 
when his mind was brought into earnest exercise, it 
worked with an intensity and effect that could not 
be exceeded. One part of his intellectual training 
particularly recommends itself to the young men of 
his own profession. When any question was presented 
to his mind, he was not content to examine it only 
to see what could be said on his own side, or to 
maintain a thesis, but he investigated the subject on 
all sides, sounded its depths, explored its foundations, 
and having found the truth, laid it up as a treasure 
to be kept forever. It was thus that he amassed 
amazing intellectual wealth, upon which he could 
draw at any time as an exhaustless mine. He had a 
profound respect and reverence for the Christian reli- 
gion and its ordinances. Whenever he spoke of them 
it was in deep tones of solemnity and awe. No one 
who knew him would presume to speak of them 
lightly or thoughtlessly in his presence. 

I had hoped that when the time should have arriv- 
ed for his withdrawal from the active scenes of poli- 
tical life, he would, in his rural retreat, have devoted 
liis last years to tlie investigation and contemplation 
of the momentous subject of revelation and a future 
life, and that he would have given to the world the 
fruits of the inquiries and reflections of his great 
mind. Such a work would have been of transcendent 
value, and a graceful close, and the crowning glory 
of the labors of his life. But Infinite Wisdom and 

15 



114 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

Infinite Goodness have ordered it otherwise, and we 
have only to bow in humble submission to the dis- 
pensation. 

Mr. Justice Curtis said: 

I receive with deep sensibility the resolutions of 
the Bar, and the remarks of yourself, ISIr. Attorney, 
and of the other gentlemen who have addressed us. 
The death of this illustrious statesman and jurist has 
produced a profound impression everywhere in the 
country to whose service he devoted his life, and will 
be felt as an event not unimportant in the civilized 
world. 

Among the gentlemen of this Bar, of which he was 
a member, with very many of whom he held relations 
of private friendship, and for whom, as a body, he 
was ever ready to manifest a fraternal regard, and in 
this Court, which, for more than thirty years, he has 
enlightened and assisted by liis labors, a deep feeling 
of private grief mingles itself with our sense of the 
public loss. How great this loss is cannot be de- 
scribed, for it cannot now be even known. The dark- 
ness of the future covers the dangers which the Pro- 
vidence of God may permit our country to encounter, 
and hides from view our needs for the patriotism and 
surpassing mental power of ]Mr. Webster. In a go- 
Acrnment depending for its existence on opinion, the 
witlidrawal of a mind which exercised so great an in- 
lluence for tiic preservation and stability of our coun- 
try, not (inly in the ]niblic councils, but among the 
people themselves, is a loss indeed. 

We submit ourselves to it as inevitable, as having 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 115 

come at the time appointed by the will of Him in 
whose hand is the destiny of nations, and of men, and 
with gratitude that so much has been accomplished by 
him, and so much left for the instruction of this and 
future times. Of his services and works as a states- 
man, I can say nothing after what others have said. 

But receiving these communications from his breth- 
ren of the Bar, I am strongly reminded of the im- 
portance to them of the memory and fame of this 
great lawyer. The illustrious names and great deeds 
which centuries have gathered are the richest treasures 
of a nation. The master-pieces of literature and art 
dignify the pursuits in which they were produced. 

We may claim Daniel Webster as an American law- 
}^er. Born during the War of the Revolution, in a 
family Avhich took an honorable part in that great 
struggle, he was imbued from his infancy with Ame- 
rican ideas and principles. He was reared in the sim- 
ple habits of a New England home. He was forced 
early into the rough and invigorating contact with 
nature among the mountains where he had his birth- 
place. He was trained in the college of his native 
State. He studied our common law ; for although it 
was painfully wrought out from age to age in another 
land, yet it was by our ancestors, and I thank God 
that by as good a title as can be shown under its 
rules, it is our healthy and manly intellectual, as well 
as political, inheritance. He knew it as it is in Lit- 
tleton, this his great commentator, and in Plowden 
and Saunders, as well as in its more modern sources. 
His mind was imbued with its logic, and its peculiar 
style was as familiar to him as that of Taylor or JNIil- 



116 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

ton. Its fundamental principles had become a part of 
the structure of his mind, and under these new skies 
he maintained and advanced those great principles of 
personal liberty under the law and by the law, and 
the absolute security of private property, which con- 
stitute the vital power of the common law. But it 
must not be forgotten, for the honor of American ju- 
risprudence, and for his honor, that he entered a field 
such as has existed nowhere else in any age. 

It was and is one of the excellencies of the Con- 
stitution of the United States that it did not attempt 
too much, that it is neither a treatise nor a code, but 
a simple enumeration of the great powers and princi- 
ples necessary to constitute the government of our 
country. When this government was put into opera- 
tion in the same territory and over the same people, 
having distinct State governments of their own, ques- 
tions of the last importance to the tranquillity and 
peace of the country, and to the efficiency and suc- 
cess of the new government, necessarily arose. Few 
men, whose attention has not been particularly direct- 
ed to this subject, are aware of the number, the im- 
portance, or the difficulty of these questions. A coun- 
try, already vast in extent, and whose resources, in a 
rapid course of development, were incalculable ; whose 
people, after great suffering, had, by their own acts, 
become a nation, had created a court of justice, and 
delegated to it the power, and imposed upon it, under 
the most solemn sanctions, the duty of declaring void 
all legislative acts not in conformity with the Consti- 
tution, and of restraining within their appropriate limits 
of power the State sovereignties under which the peo- 
ple lived. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 117 

Questions which elsewhere could have been settled 
only by mere force, or by diplomatic negotiations, 
wliich force influences, were here to be brought to 
an arbitrament, according to the staid, settled, and re- 
gular course of judicial procedure. 

Into these contests Mr. Webster entered, and for 
them he was fitted, I tliink, as no other man has 
been. He brought to these great debates extensive 
and accurate historical learning, especially concerning 
the Constitution itself; a clearness of conception, com- 
prehensiveness of grasp, and logical power never sur- 
passed ; and to all these was added a command of 
the English tongue, which, for demonstrative oratory, 
has, I think, not been equalled. 

We may all conceive, what many yet know, that he 
was able to render, and did render to his country, and 
to the cause of justice and peace, the most eminent 
service, in this unobtrusive but important scene of 
action. And we shall make but poor use of his great 
example if we do not borrow from it higher concep- 
tions and broader views of the capacities and duties 
of his and our profession. Of even the most promi- 
nent causes of great and permanent public importance 
in which Mr. Webster was engaged, there is not time 
here to speak, but it may be said generally, without 
doing any injustice to the great magistrates by whom 
they were determined, what indeed they were ever 
ready to acknowledge, that they derived most import- 
ant assistance from the labors of Mr. Webster. 

It is the general destiny of lawyers to leave behind 
them but few traces, and no monuments, of their m- 
tellectual labor. Eloquence and learning, and devotion 



118 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

to duty, and strenuous effort, and high courage, serve 
their uses of the day, and doubtless find their regard 
in the breast of their possessor, but with him often 
dies even their memory. How little do we know of 
the forensic arguments of Ames, or Dexter, or Otis. 
Vague impressions of their power still linger on the 
fleeting recollections of a few living men, to depart, 
when they go home, and leave no trace behind. 

To a very considerable extent Mr. Webster will pro- 
bably not partake of this ordinary lot of liis brethren. 
Many of his forensic arguments have been made in 
causes of such great and permanent importance, they 
are so admirable in themselves, and in general have 
been so well preserved, that they may be expected 
to be recurred to and studied while the Constitution 
shall endure. 

What estimate posterity may form of the import- 
ance to them of this part of his labors, it would be 
presumptuous in us to attempt to decide. But for 
ourselves we can declare, that he who has strength- 
ened the foundations of the Constitution, and shielded 
it from hostile attack, and made aj^parent to the af- 
fections of the people, the strength and beauty of its 
proportions and the peace and safety which are to be 
found only within its walls, has rendered to us a ser- 
vice not lightly to be esteemed or soon forgotten. 

That in tliis I do but feebly express what this nation 
now feels, no man can doubt. To what has been so 
eloquently said at the Bar concerning his life and his 
death, it cannot be necessary that I should express 
my assent. But I desire to sa}^, what I strongly feel 
and what it must gratify every man who loves his 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT. 119 

countiy to feel, that the death of Mr. Webster has 
given us a new and affecting proof that we are indeed 
one people, united by a common attachment to our 
country and to its great institutions and principles, 
and to the men who represent and uphold them; 
that underneath the strife of parties and the more 
miserable contests of sections and factions, deep in the 
American heart is a love of the whole country, and 
therefore it is that from that heart has come the utter- 
ances of grief, which arise everywhere over this broad 
land ; grief for the loss of the man whose heart was 
large enough, and whose mind was comprehensive 
enough to include this Union, with all its interests 
and dependencies, and opinions, and obligations, and 
rights. And the great principles wliich he had so 
powerfully taught in his life, receive from his 'Seath a 
new sanction by his countrymen. 



PROCEEDINGS 



IN THE 



SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT 



OF 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



ifi 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SUPREME JUDICLVL 
COURT OF MASSxVCIIUSETTS. 



This Court was holding the Law Term at Taunton, 
in Bristol county. There were present Chief Justice 
SuAW, and Justices Dewey, jMetcalf, Bigelow, and 

CUSULNO. 

A meeting of the Bar was held October 26; Hon. 
Charles J. Holmes, of Fall River, was chosen Chair- 
man, and Jacob II. Loud, of Plymouth, was appointed 
Secretary. A Committee of seven was appointed by 
the Chair, to take such order, and report such resolu- 
tions, as would express the sentiments of the Bar on 
occasion of the demise of the late Honorable Daniel 
Webster ; and Messrs. Coffin of New Bedford, Whitman 
of Abington, G. Marston of Barnstable, Colby of New 
Bedford, Farnsworth of Pawtucket, Eliot of New Bed- 
ford, and Miller of Wareham, were appointed said 
Committee. 

The Committee presented the following Resolutions, 
which were unanimously adopted. 

The members of the Bar of the Old Colony, composed of the 
counties of Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, and Dukes County, hav- 
ing learned with the most profound sorrow the decease of the 



124 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

Honorable Daniel Webster, avail themselves of this earliest oppor- 
tunity, at their Annual Meeting at the Law Tei-m of the Supreme 
Judicial Court, now held at Taunton, to express the sentiments 
which they entertain, in common with the whole country, at the 
irreparable loss which they and that country have sustained ; — 
Therefore, 

Resolved, That the services of Daniel "Webster to his country 
demand, from the members of this Bar, an expression of their deep 
sorrow at his decease, and of their admiration for the unrivalled 
greatness of his character. 

Resolved, That this Bar desire to withdraw for a season from their 
ordinary pursuits, to meditate upon the loss of the most eminent of 
their number, and to mingle their sori'ows with those of a nation that 
now mourns his departure. 

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the family of our 
deceased Brother, and that a copy of these Resolutions, as an ex- 
pression of that sympathy, be transmitted to them. 

Resolved, That the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth be 
requested to present these Resolutions to the Supreme Judicial 
Court now in session, and ask that they may be entered on their 
records. 

Upon presenting the foregoing resolutions, Attor- 
ney-General Clifford addressed the Court : 

May it please your Honors — At the request of 
my Brethren of the Bar of the Old Colony, and as 
their organ, I rise to ask your Honors to suspend 
for a while our customary labors, in recognition of 
an event, which requires, from us to you, no formal 
announcement. It has already shrouded the nation 
in gloom, and bowed in grief the universal heart. 

Our elder Brother of the Bar, our professional ex- 
emplar, guide, and friend, Daniel Webster, is no 
more ! And where, throughout the broad land, which 
is filled with the tokens of his labors and his life, 
where can the homelike feeling of personal grief, for 



PROCEEDINGS L\ THE SUPREME COURT. 12-5 

a personal loss, fmd a more natural and fitting ex- 
pression, than among his professional brethren of the 
Old Colony ? Here was the latest home of his affec- 
tions. It will be the last home of all of him that 
belongs to earth. 

At our first annual assembling in the presence of 
this Court, ^Yhcre his living voice has so often uttered 
the highest wisdom, and where his spirit will long 
linjrer, I am desired to submit to the Court certain 
resolutions, which the Bar have adopted, as an expres- 
sion of their sense of the magnitude of the loss which 
they, in common with the whole country, have sus- 
tained. They have had no time, or opportunity, nor 
have they desired it, to clothe in any elaborate forms 
of rhetoric, the sentiments with which this solemn 
event has filled their hearts. They offer these brief 
resolutions as a simple and spontaneous expression 
of the feeling w^hich this great national bereave- 
ment has inspired. And 1 shall most satisfactorily 
discharge the duty with which I am charged by my 
])rcthren, and best answer their expectations and 
wishes, by accompanjdng them with a few simple 
jtrefatory words. 

Under this autumn sun, a rich harvest has been 
gathered into the garner of mortality. In both hem- 
ispheres, the two foremost men of the two leading 
nations of the civilized world, to each of whom was 
committed by their Creator the perilous gift of the 
ten talents, have been summoned by Him to give an 
account of their stewardship ; the soldier-statesman — 
the lawyer-statesman, — each in his sphere mightiest 
among the mighty ; both, too, following close upon 



126 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

the footsteps of another great luminary of our pro- 
fession, whose mortal light has just faded behind yon- 
der western hills, and for whose departure the tears 
are yet moist upon a nation's cheek. 

Were it not, Mr. Chief Justice, for our Christian 
faith in that overruling Providence, whose dread sum- 
mons it is that has just been so often sounded in 
our ears, and who we know " ordereth all things 
well," as he " doeth his pleasure among the inhabit- 
ants of the earth," we might be tempted, in this 
hour of our bereavement, to utter the desponding la- 
mentation which the great poet has so touchingiy 
expressed in verse. 

We have fallen upon evil days, 
Stai* after star decays, 
The brightest names, that shed 
Light o'er the land, have fled. 

In contemplating the character and career of Mr. 
Webster as a lawyer, we can scarcely measure the 
magnitude of the debt which, as lawyers, we owe to 
him. Let those who aspire to reach the pure heights 
of this noble profession — and who that is stirred by 
a spark of w^orthy ambition, does not so aspire ? — 
remember the encouragement his life has furnished 
to every youth whose days are devoted to its toil- 
some pursuit. What a reflected light have his great 
achievements thrown back upon the humble home of 
his childhood among the New Hampshire hills ; from 
which, by patient and unremitting labor, devoted with 
unsurpassed fidelity to his profession, he advanced to 
a position in the world's regard which will make that 
humble home a shrine of pilgrimage through all com- 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 127 

ing time. Wherever, throughout the world, justice is 
administered among men, he has made the name of 
an American lawyer an honored name. His worthy 
conceptions of the true character of the profession, 
the exalted aims which he early set before himself, 
in its pursuit, and the admirable and resolute train- 
ing of all his great faculties to meet its require- 
ments, enabled him to shed upon it a new glory, by 
showing to the world its fitness for training the in- 
tellectual powers for the highest achievements of 
statesmanship. To the most brilliant effort of his 
public career, he carried the training and discipline 
of the lawyer's mind, and through it he achieved a 
triumph for himself and for his country, the eJQfects 
of which will last as long as the Union which it esta- 
blished, and the memory of which will be coeval with 
the knowledge of his native tongue. 

When he was summoned to that " Great Debate," 
he found that in certain portions of the country there 
was a prevalent, confused idea, that the Government 
of the United States was a mere confederation, or 
congeries of independent States, a phantom, an unreal 
mockery of power. With a masterly exertion of that 
great faculty which he possessed in so eminent a de- 
gree beyond all other men, of making the most com- 
plicated and difficult problem simple and intelligible 
to the humblest mind, he established that Government 
on the irreversible convictions of the people of this 
country, as a real, living, substantial thing — the effi- 
cient Government of a great Empire, founded upon 
the sovereignty of the whole people. 



128 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

No other man of our time could have accomplished 
this great work, so vital to every interest of this 
Union. Mighty in intellect, of a most majestic pre- 
sence, of infinite gifts and resources, the impress of 
greatness was stamped upon liim by the hand of the 
Almighty. He seemed to be the very type and em- 
bodiment of Shakspeare's apostrophe to man : " How 
noble in reason — how injB.nite in faculties — in form 
and moving, how express and admirable — in appre- 
hension how like a God ! " 

But he has gone from amongst us, and we would 
turn in cheerful Christian faith from the gloomy as- 
pect of this great bereavement^ to the felicities which 
attended the close of his earthly career. 

He had rounded the full measure of threescore 
years and ten. The great record of his long life's 
services to his country had been made up. His work 
was finished. He enjoyed the full fruition of that 
Eastern benediction which is so dear to the heart of 
man, that it has been wrought into the expression of 
a universal wish, ^^May you die among your kindred." 
More than all, it was vouchsafed to him to realize 
the hope, which he once expressed in language of 
surpassing sublimity and fervor, that " When his eye 
should be turned for the last time to behold the 
sun in heaven, he might not see him shining on the 
broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious 
Union." Thanks be to God, "its last feeble and lin- 
gering glance beheld the gorgeous ensign of the Re- 
public, known and honored throughout the earth, still 
full high advanced — not a stripe erased or polluted, 
or a star obscured." 



PIIOCEEDIN'GS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 129 

And thus this great man dcpartei-l. Surrounded 
by all 

— that which shouUl accompany old age, 
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends. 

His last words still echo in our cars, as they will 
echo in the ears of other generations of men, long 
after we shall have passed away like the dust of the 
summer threshing-floor. " I still live." How true for 
him, in this world, throughout all time. '•' Vita hrcvis 
cd ; ciirsus gloricc senqntcrnmr ]\Iay we not hum- 
Idy trust that it was equally true for him in that 
higher and better sense which assures us of his par- 
ticipation in the gracious promise, — " He that liveth 
and believeth in me, shall never die." 

Mr. Clillbrd then read the resolutions adopted by 
the Bar, and moved the Court that they be entered 
upon its records, and that the Court do now adjourn. 

Chief Justice Suaw responded on the part of the 
Court as follows : 

Gentlemen of the Old Colony Bar — This Court, in 
behalf of whom I now speak, do most cordially assure 
you of their full participation in the feelings of pro- 
found sadness and grief, which everj^where pervade 
this great community, in view of the signal bereave- 
ment which we all deplore, and their sincere sym- 
pathy in the sentiments expressed in the resolutions 
which you have now offered. We are called upon to 
lament the loss of an illustrious man, of an eminent 
statesman, of a profound jurist, and eloquent advocate. 
It seems fitting, therefore, amidst the exciting inte- 
rests, the exacting cares, and the laborious duties, to 

17 



130 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

which we are devoted, to pause, and listen with re- 
verent awe, to the deep lessons of wisdom, which Pro- 
vidence is teaching us, by an event so impressive. 
We are thus forcibly reminded, that however illus- 
trious any man may become for learning and wisdom, 
that however important and necessary his life and ser- 
vices may seem to his friends, liis country, and his 
race, to whatever height of fame and prosperity he 
may have reached, still the time of his departure 
comes as it comes to all, when all the attractions of 
earth lose their lustre and their force, and we are 
awakened to a deep conviction of the solemn realities 
of another life, in comparison with which all the in- 
terests of this our mortal being, seem trifling and 
insignificant. 

We are now forcibly reminded by all that we see 
and feel, that a great man has fallen among us. Mr. 
Webster has long been in the full view of our whole 
community, regarded as a man of great wisdom, a 
prudent guide and counsellor, who had the best good 
of his country and of his race always at heart. Con- 
spicuous alike for his commanding talents, his large 
and comprehensive views, the purity and correctness 
of all his great purposes, he was looked to, as one 
who could be safelv trusted in the darkest hours of 
his country's prospects, to protect her from suffering 
and peril, from within and from without. Mr. Web- 
ster's whole course of public life, in which he has 
been steadily advancing in honor and usefulness, has 
been known and visible to the whole community; and 
the strong and universal manifestation of grief and 
sadness, which have everywhere followed the news of 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 131 

liis decease, afTonl ample proof of the firm h.ild which 
lie had upon the confidence and aflettions of the 
l)eople. 

As a statesman, he was equally distinguished by the 
resources of his capacious mind, and the eminent wis- 
dom of his counsels. In the exertion of his irreat 
powers, in public affairs, no partial or sectional in- 
terests, no private or party views could allure him 
from the path of the general and public good. Dazzled 
by no visionary theories, deluded by no speculative pro- 
jects, his views were decidedly practical and attain- 
able; looking to tlie actual and various conditions, to 
all the liberal and industrial pursuits of the whole 
people of the Union, he was equally comprehen.sive in 
his regards, and just and discriminating in his mea- 
sures, lie was ardently devoted to the support of the 
Constitution in its integrity, because he regarded it, 
under Providence, as the only safeguard and guaranty 
of the Union ; and he loved the Union, because, in his 
sober judgment, its preservation is essentially neces- 
sary to the peace, liberty, and security, and conse- 
quently to the best and truest interests of the whole 
community. Peace, internal harmony, security for tdl 
personal, social, and political rights, these, if we may 
judge from his clear and often repeated declarations, 
were, in his view, the leading object of all govern- 
ment ; and that, practically, that government is best 
which gives the highest encouragement to personal 
exertion, and the largest scope to individual enterprise, 
in every honest and laudable pursuit, which can be 
given, consistently with a just regard and an effectual 
security to the equal rights of all. 



132 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

But this is not the time or place to attempt a dis- 
criminating or detailed view of Mr. Webster's high 
qualities as a statesman. He will long be remembered 
throughout the UnioUj on the ocean and in the work- 
shop, on the farm, and in every walk of industry, as 
the defender of the Constitution, the faithful friend of 
the Union, and the advocate of the just rights of all 
the members of this great and growing community. 

In addressing myself to a body devoted to the 
study and practice of the law, and the administration 
of justice, many of whom have been associated with 
him as a professional brother and friend, and all of 
whom have been accustomed to regard him as an 
honor to the profession wdiicli they love, it seems more 
fitting to allude briefly to the character of Mr. Web- 
ster, as a jurist and an advocate. He early selected 
the study of the law, which, when faithfully and honor- 
ably pursued, may justly be regarded as a high and 
honorable profession, inasmuch as it looks to the prac- 
tical assertion of right, liberty, and justice, as its lead- 
ing object. He soon distinguished himself for great 
research, for large and comprehensive views of the 
law, and of those broad principles of right and justice, 
having their deep and immovable foundations in the 
moral laws of our nature, which constitute the true basis 
of all law. As soon as he entered on the career of 
practice, he became distinguished at once, as a learned 
jurist and an eloquent advocate. With a natural acu- 
men and power of legal discrimination quite unsur- 
passed, with a force of logic and power of eloquence, 
which gave to every argument its most efficient im- 
press, he soon attained to a rank in his profession, 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 133 

which elevated him t<> an equality with those who 
ha.l l)een previously regarded as the lights of the pro- 
fessional firmament in this and the neighboring States, 
ami wlio were then held in the highest estimation for 
[>rofessional eminence. 

In one department, that of Constitutional law, lie 
was peculiarly distinguished, and gained a reputation 
second perhaps to no one, unless that of him who 
was so long distinguished as the head of the first ju- 
dicial tribunal of the country. 

Starting, like other students, with no extraordinary 
external aid, and reaching the highest eminence, the 
example of Mr. Webster may well be held up as an 
encouragement to young men, struggling in the earlier 
stages of a profession rerpiiring persevering effort and 
untirino- industry. Let those who have watched the 
dawn of his early professional reputation, the splen- 
(h.r of his meridian success, and have now witnessed 
its brilliant close, take courage, and hope on, holding 
his virtues and his industry as a high example, and 
his renown as a never-failing encouragement to pa- 
tience and perseverance in well doing. 

In these remarks, brief and hasty as they are, I 
would not wholly overlook the example and influence 
of Mr. Webster, as a man, a friend, a member of so- 
ciety, and a public benefactor. Always foremost in 
the promotion of all social institutions, for education, 
for the improvement of mind, for the cultivation of 
the social affections, for the improvement of taste, he 
did much to give value and dignity, as well as grace 
and elegance to refined society. Devoted to the cul- 
tivation of letters, seeking in the annals of the past 



134 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

the examples of the wise and good for the encourage- 
ment and improvement of the present times, venerat- 
ing especially the virtues and achievements of our 
hardy ancestors, he was ever ready, with his treasures 
of learning and his powers of eloquence, to unite with 
others in commemoration of great events, and inte- 
resting epochs. Wherever particular times and places 
have been consecrated to the love of liberty and of 
country, to the commemoration of illustrious public 
bcnefiictors, there was he prepared to utter the elo- 
quent words of wisdom to listening crowds, where their 
import Avould be most impressive. At Pljanouth Rock, 
at Bunker Hill, at the INIonument of Washington, wher- 
ever the wise and good assembled to commune and 
learn wisdom from the past, his presence, and his gloAv- 
ing eloquence, were not wanting. 

But he is gone ; a great light and glory of our 
age has departed from our sight, not indeed until he 
had done all that a great statesman, an illustrious 
advocate, a humble and devout Christian, a most dis- 
tinguished citizen and man could do, to improve and 
benefit his age and his race, and especially, as his 
crowning excellence, to turn their hearts and thoughts 
from the alluring engagements and engrossing cares 
of this transitory life, to a higher and more enduring 
state of existence beyond the grave. In this view, it 
is fit that we noAV regard him as one who has done 
much to benefit one world, without omitting the higher 
function of pointing the way to anotlier. Let us be 
grateful to a benign Providence for all the good 
which the statesman and benefactor was able to do ; 
and let us profit by the good examples he has given 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 135 

US, and the grave lessons which his life, character, 
and death have taught us. Whilst devoting ourselves 
faithfully, and with all our powers, to the discharge 
of our duties, those duties which we fondly flatter 
ourselves are high and important, and which do in- 
deed touch the dearest earthly interests of men, and 
of communities, let us never forget, that amidst these, 
as part of these, and necessary to their just perform- 
ance, that there is one duty never to be overlooked, 
that of a steady and constant regard, and of a fre- 
quent and solemn reflection on the higher subjects of 
life, death, and immortality; that, whether we live or 
die. Ave may be found in the way of duty. 



V 



PPtOCEEDIXGS 



OF THE 



BOSTON SCHOOL (^OMMITTEE. 



18 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL 

COM:\nTTEE. 



At the meeting of the Boston Grammar School 
Committee, on Tuesday, November 22, tlie following 
resolutions were submitted by Dr. Adams: 

Whereas, Almighty God lias seen fit to remove from us, by death, 
one whom all unite in calling " the foremost man of our country," 
the School Committee of the city of Boston, at their first meeting, 
after the announcement of this sad intelligence, not only would avail 
themselves of the opportunity, but deem it their duty, to give utter- 
ance to their feelings on this solemn occasion ; Therefore, 

Resolved, That while we submit with all humility to this afflict- 
ing dispensation, we cannot but deploi'e for our country and the 
world, this extinction of their brightest ornament and ablest mind. 

Resolved, That in the death of Daniel Webster we recognize the 
loss of one in whom existed that rare combination of the brightest 
intellect and the lai'gest capacity, under the government and control 
of moral influences ; one, in whose own language, our common school 
system was called " that celestial and that earthly light," under 
which the young men of our country shall come up, fitted intellect- 
ually and morally to sustain and perpetuate our free institutions. 

Resolved, That while the deep, mellow tones of that voice, which 
have so often delighted our ears, shall be heard no more forever, 
and the significant glance of those once piercing eyes, are now 
dimmed in death; yet in his own last words, "He still lives;" yes, 
and will live by his teachings and noble example in the mind and 
heart of every true American, so long as the last glimmer of the 



140 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

light of liuinan freedom shall continue " to linger and play on the 
summit" of our temple of liberty. 

Rev. Hubbard Winsloav said: 

Mr. President — I rise to second, most cordially, the 
resolutions just offered. I do not propose to occupy 
much time with remarks ; but before engaging in our 
customary business, at this first meeting of the board 
since the death of Mr. Webster, it becomes us to 
pause and consecrate our first thoughts to that great 
and solemn event. 

The mournful tidings have, ere this, gone over the 
length and breadth of the land; the entire nation is 
now in tears. And they are neither feigned nor ordi- 
nary tears. They come from the deepest fountain of 
the soul, and they refuse to be dried up. The more 
the heart seeks to be comforted, the more it refuses 
all comfort, but such as comes only from above. 

In a beautiful German fable, representing our pro- 
genitor as weeping over the first human victim of 
death, and exclaiming, " What now remains for me, in 
my lamentation?" a bright cherub from the skies an- 
swers, " Der Blick gen EQmmel ! " A look to Heaven ! 
That onlv remains to us — to this mournino; nation; 
in the loss of its truest friend and brightest ornament. 
That same cherub still hovers on poised wing, between 
earth and heaven; still he beckons us, and points 
the eye of hope to those golden portals — those ever- 
lasting gates — through which the immortal spirit of 
the great man has just passed, into regions of uncre- 
ated light and glory. From those imperial heights, 
beyond the reach of mortality and change, a voice 
came to us from him, "not dead, but gone before," 



PKOCEEDINGS OF TilE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 141 

"I still live." This, sir, is our consolation. Webster 
still lives, and will live forever. 

We should not be willing to accept the benefits 
which he has bestowed upon us, great as they are, if 
they must needs cost the final sacrifice of him by 
whom they have been bestowed. But when we think 
of him as still living, looking down from the skies 
upon us, and contemplating the future glories of this 
and other nations, as enhanced by Ms labors and his 
undying principles, our hearts are comforted, and we 
gratefully accept the priceless legacy he has be- 
queathed us. 

And what a legacy ! " The great principles of 
Magna Charta, of the English Revolution, and es- 
pecially of the American Revolution, of the English 
language." Well might he say — "The day-spring 
from on high has visited us; the country has been 
called back to conscience and to duty. There is 
no longer imminent danger of dissolution in these 
United States. We shall live, and not die. We shall 
live as united Americans ; and those who have sup- 
posed they could sever us, that they could rend one 
American heart from another, and that speculation and 
hypothesis, that secession and metaphysics could tear 
us asunder, will find themselves wofully mistaken." 

To eulogize Daniel Webster is no part of my object. 
It as far transcends my power as it does his neces- 
sity. Those of us who have known him more than a 
quarter of a century, in the various walks of public 
and of private life, have his eulogy already deeply 
written on our hearts. 

That noble and majestic form, that colossal and 



142 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

classic head, those hirge and brilliant eyes ; that coun- 
tenance, so benignant in smile and so terrible in frown ; 
the tout enscmhlc of that entire personage, so peculiar, 
so striking, so superior to that of any other human 
being we have ever seen, must forever retain a place 
in our most vivid conceptions. Viewing him merely 
in his personal appearance, " we ne'er shall see his 
like again." But in his mental being, he is far more 
unlike all others. There is in it a combination of 
grandeur and simplicity, of greatness and minuteness, 
of strength and delicacy, which were never before so 
perfectly blended in a human mind. His intellect 
was as the ocean, which he so much loved, and which 
only seemed large enough for him, on which, in fair 
weather, the lightest skiff can float safely, and in which 
the most deeply freighted ships of merchandise find 
no bottom. The child could understand him and be 
instructed by what he said, while the most profound 
thinker saw in him a "A^asty deep," which he could 
not fathom. 

When we contemplate him in the forum, carrying 
judge and jury, and all others, with him, by argu- 
ment, at once so simple that a child could compre- 
hend it, and so mighty that the loftiest intellect bow- 
ed reverently to it; when we think of him on those 
public occasions, when mighty themes of general in- 
terest inspired his great heart, and poured from his 
lips in strains of surpassing pathos, sublimity, and 
classic beauty, to the outbursting admiration of as- 
sembled thousands; when he is present to our minds, 
as he ever will be, in the lustrous character of ex- 
pounder and defender of the American Constitution, 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 143 

unfolding and impressing its sacred lessons of eternal 
obligations, and thus cementing the bonds of the Na- 
tional Union; when we regard him as the civilian, 
the diplomatist, the statesman, defining rights and 
duties, establishing laws of reciprocity, and settling 
great principles, to be henceforth recognized by all 
civilized communities and nations, and doing all with a 
depth and reach of wisdom that never failed ; Avhen we 
behold him fighting the nation's battles, securing its 
victories, protecting its rights and its honors, unfurl- 
ing its triumphant stripes and stars over all seas, by 
the mere power of his intellect, and without shedding 
a drop of the people's blood, or wasting an ounce of 
their treasure ; and then, when, from the high seats 
of official eminence, we follow him to the farm, the 
neighborhood, the fireside, and ponder those tender 
Q-races of affection which made him so dear to his 
family, servants, workmen, neighbors, . and all who 
knew him, — which allowed no creature, human or 
animal, to suffer, when he could afford relief, — and 
which seemed to inspire the very cattle upon his 
grounds with a sentiment of admiration and love for 
their owner; and when, especially, we see him as a 
Christian, bowing his great mind, with the simplicity 
of a child, to the teachings of Jesus Christ, surren- 
dering himself cordially to that faitli which looks for 
honor, glory, and immortality in Heaven, and resign- 
ing all that was mortal in a way that made death an 
apotheosis rather than a dissolution; — I say, as he 
rises before us, in all these various aspects and rela- 
tions, we are constrained to acknowledge that he was 
a man by himself, and that to have been privileged 



144 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

to live in the same age, the same country, the same 
community with him, imposes on us a debt of no or- 
dinary gratitude. Henceforth, the age, and the country 
that gave him birth, will be illustrious in the annals 
of time. 

But, Sir, it was with another view that I rose to 
speak. We meet here as the friends and guardians 
of education. To us are intrusted, especially, the in- 
terests of our common and our public schools. It 
was the common school system to which we are here 
officially devoted, and which is the crowning glory of 
this country, that gave Daniel Webster to this world. 
But for this, that gigantic intellect had slumbered, 
unknowing and unknown, with those granite rocks 
that gave him birth. It is this system of common 
schools spreading over the land, all-searching and 
pervading, that develops the hidden treasures of the 
mind, and often from the most obscure retreats calls 
forth to life and power those mighty intellects which 
become the ornament of letters, the pride of science, 
the defence of religion, and the pillars of State. 

And, Sir, the debt which that great man owed to 
the school system of this countr3% he has richly paid. 
The man never lived who thouglit more highly of their 
importance, and did more to inspirit and enrich them. 
As a friend of his was once riding with him through 
his native State, and was speaking of the dangers 
and prospects of our country, '^ There," said Mr. Web- 
ster, pointing to an humble school-house, and to a 
small church near it, " is the foundation of all our 
hopes, both for the present and the future. It is to 
the religion and the schools which our fathers plant- 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 145 

ed, that our llepublic owes its existence ; without them 
there can be no rational liberty. So long as these 
are fostered, our institutions are safe ; whenever they 
shall be neglected, the knell of republicanism will be 
tolled." 

Such sentiments were 'perpetually beaming out in 
all his private conversations and public speeches in 
reference to the destinies of our nation. '' I have seen," 
said he, " and others of my age have seen, the church 
and the school-house rise and stand in the very centre 
of the forest, and seen them resorted to in the midst 
of winter snows. And when these things lie at the 
foundation and commencement of society; where the 
worship of God, the observance of morals, and the 
culture of the human mind, are springs of action with 
those who take hold of the original forest, to subdue 
it by strong arms and strong muscles, there, depend 
upon it, the people never fail. Everywhere, cvcr//- 
jvhcrCy on her hills and rivers, are these school-houses. 
The school-house ; who shall speak of that throughout 
Xew England, as it ought to be spoken of? Who 
shall speak, in proper language, of the wisdom, and 
foresight, and benevolence, and sagacity of our fore- 
fathers, in establishing a general system of public in- 
struction as a great public police for the benefit of 
the whole, as a business in which all are interested ! 
The world had previously seen nothing like it, al- 
thougli some parts of the world have since copied 
from it." 

Henceforth, sir, that great man will be intimately 
associated with the educational systems of our coun- 
try. The Bar, the Forum, the Senate, the Council- 

19 



14G WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

Chamber, shall not exclusively claim it ; it shall he 
knowii; and houoredj and loved, from sea to sea, by 
all the friends of education, as the name of the most 
illustrious champion of their cause. Henceforth, all 
who toil in the arduous work of education shall know 
that the blessing of Daniel Webster is upon them. 
They are engaging in the very work which he be- 
lieved to be, before all others, essential to our welfare 
as individuals, and to our safety as a nation. It was 
not merely the college, the higher halls of science, 
that he, l)y his matchless eloquence, defended ; the 
common school, even the infant school, engaged his 
attention and his heart, and called forth his most im- 
passioned commendation. His standing motto was, 
Solcm e mundo toUunt, qui scicntiam e vita toUunt. 

But, sir, he has done more than merely to commend 
our school system; he has himself engaged, personally, 
in the work of teaching, and has pronounced the time 
thus spent the most profitable portion of his life. 
We have thus not only his counsel to guide, but his 
example to inspirit us. 

Nor is this all ; — it is, indeed, the least part. He 
has poured the measureless wealth of his own intel- 
lect into all the schools and colleges of the land. 
There is scarcely a child in America, twelve years old, 
whose mind has not been enriched by his speeches 
and orations. Those chaste and massive sentences, 
those simple and resistless arguments, those bold and 
brilliant Hashes of imagination, those notes of thun- 
dering, subduing, awful eloquence, those impassioned 
appeals to patriotism, have found their way to every 
school-boy's heart, and have begun to mould the men- 
tal character of the risinef race. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 147 

Ileiiee the enthusiasm which all our youth feel in 
regard to Daniel Webster. They know little, and 
care less, for party politics. They have not yet en- 
tered the arena of political strife ; but they have 
caught the fire of that mighty spirit's eloquence, they 
feel the benign influence of a lofty mind working upon 
theirs; and the same magic impulse which prompts 
them to rise higher in mental excellence, prompts 
them to do honor to their great master. 

Their minds have become so much moulded and in- 
spired l)y his, that they instinctively love and honor 
him. His speeches are destined to do more, in my 
opinion, to promote the great objects of education, to 
form correct habits of tliinking and speaking, and to 
put the rising American race in possession of a chas- 
tened, eloquent, powerful literature, than any other 
instrumentality of the nineteenth century. 

But, sir, I did not intend to say so much. My 
only apology is, that I could not say less. While 
we pause to meditate upon our irreparable loss, let us 
not forget that we have other and higher duties, and 
duties which time will not wait for us to perform. 

Omncs eodcm cogimur; omnium 
Vcrsatur urna, serins ocyus 
Sors exitura, ct nos aitcrnum 
Exilium impositura cymbaj. 

No, sir; it is not to eternal exile, as the heathen 
poet says, that w^e are destined. If fliithful to those 
higher duties, we may look, in the light of Christian 
faith, to that same celestial home of eternal friend- 
ship and glory, into which our illustrious friend has 
entered before us. The dying scene of that immortal 



148 AVEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

man ! Who of us does not wish that his last end 
may be like his ? Socrates died like a philosopher ; 
Webster, like a Christian. His death was the crown- 
ing glory of a glorious life. He wanted no Charon's 
boat to float him over the dark wave to the land of 
eternal exile ; — a convoy of shining angels were in 
attendance ; and as his calm, piercing gaze shot up 
the long bright track in which they were to conduct 
him, he exclaimed, amid his last distinct utterances 
on earth : — " This day I shall he in life, in glorij, hi 
lUssednessr Let us, then, with such examples before 
us, gird up our minds to duty, and be faithful to our 
high mission. 

Mr. Stevenson addressed the Board as follows : 
I concur with the gentleman who has just spoken, 
as to the propriety of the action which is proposed, 
and do not doubt that every member of the Board 
will concur with him. 

We are members of a sorrow-stricken community. 
It is no ordinary public grief which has so taken 
possession of the minds of men; but each feels as he 
Avould feel if a valuable member of his own household 
had been taken away from his sight forever. The 
very depths of feeling have been sounded. Ever since 
the event which we mourn, a political Sabbath has 
prevailed. The all-pervading feeling is taking every 
proper form of expression. Perhaps no more impres- 
sive scene was ever witnessed than that which exhi- 
bited itself in Faneuil Hall on Wednesday last. Grief 
had called together a multitude of men. The first 
time that that hall had ever been shrouded in the 



PROCEEDEs'GS OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 149 

tlrapeiy of mourning, ho liimself had stood there to 
speak of those over whom had passed that mysterious 
change which separates the mortal from the immortal; 
and then the fact that all that was mortal of himself 
was at rest, while his majestic spirit was in tlie pre- 
sence of Almighty God, had filled the same place. 

The beautiful eloquence of gifted orators could- 
move that audience only to tears ; and thousands of 
strong men stood there and wept. 

The echoes of the temple, which had been accus- 
tomed to be awakened into a tumult at the bare 
whisper of his name, slept in the silence of sadness. 
It could not but be so. For all realized what a voice 
was left when his place on earth was unoccupied, and 
all knew that, in many respects, that place must re- 
main unoccupied. 

For how true it is, that there is not with us, or of 
us, any other man, for whose judgment all — all can 
look, as they have been accustomed to look for his, 
whenever there has presented itself any new question 
allecting the interests, or the honor, or the peace, or 
the progress of this great nation. Whether we had 
realized it before or not, we now felt how we had 
looked for and waited for that judgment. 

Now, Avhen we need his counsels, as we shall, they 
will no longer be given to us in the living Avords, 
that have burnt their influences into our very convic- 
tions, but we must look for them in the storehouses 
of our memories, and in the recorded pages of his 
wisdom. lie has gone from the midst of us, but not 
Avithout having performed the full mission of a man. 

The teacher rests from his labors. The results of 



150 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

those labors are an invaluable legacy to each of us. 
How true it is that he who would comprehend the 
philosophy of, or even appreciate the full value of, 
the institutions under which this people have been 
trying the experiment of self-government, must read 
and study his expositions of them, or the lesson will 
not be learned. Read his works, and feel Mhat a 
blessing civil and religious liberty is. Read them, 
and feel what a blessing it is to live under a govern- 
ment of laws rather than under a government of men. 
Read them; and if, which God forbid, the obligations 
of the Constitution of your country hang loosely on 
you, rivet them with his thoughts. 

The form wdiich we loved to meet has gone from 
us forever. Gratitude will provide a monument. It 
will not be so imperishable as his thoughts ; it will 
not be so enduring as the lessons he has taught; but 
it will be a shrine, before which we and our children, 
and our children's children may bow, as before an 
altar, to civil and religious freedom. 

May we profit by the example wdiich he has left 
to us, of a firm faith, a deep devotion, an unfaltering 
trust, a pure love towards the Father of his spirit. 
We will make an aj)plication, other than that which 
he probably intended, still a truthful one, of the last 
words v.hich fell from his mortal lips, so soon to be 
sealed by the angel, — "I still live." That assurance 
was not obliterated when that seal was fixed. His 
spirit is God's. His fame is ours. His works Avill 
praise him ; our words cannot. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 151 

Mr. Derby followed, and said : 

Mr. President — I rise to sustain these resolutions. 
I cannot hope to add force to what has been so elo- 
quently said by the gentleman who preceded me, but 
a high functionary of the Union has died — the most 
distinguished citizen of our State has breathed his 
last — our City Councils have given public expression 
to their griefs, and I feel it to be our duty to pass 
these resolutions and adjourn. 

It has been my privilege to know Mr. Webster 
from childhood. I knew him when at school in New 
Hampshire. I subsequently studied three years in 
his office, and I have cherished his acquaintance until 
his death. I can bear testimony to the giant grasp 
of his intellect, for I have often witnessed its exer- 
tion. I can speak of his herculean powers, not from 
report alone, but from personal experience, for I have 
lived to meet him in the forum, and have four times 
felt the weight and almost resistless powers of his ar- 
guments. Let me add my humble testimony to the 
colossal greatness of his intellect. 

There are, however, traits of character deeply im- 
pressed on my memory, for which I reverence him as 
much as for his intellect. Amid the strife of the fo- 
rum he preserved the freshness of his feelings and 
reflections. Some men, in their devotion to one great 
idea, become callous to those affections, but it was 
not so with Mr. Webster. I can remember well the 
loss of his partner, Mr. Bliss. He died in the prime 
of life, and in the flush of success. I recall the 
intense solicitude of Mr. Webster; how he paced his 
office all day in silence, absorbed in grief, while we 



152 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

looked for the melancholv event. Nor shall I ever 
forget his devotion to his first wife, Avlien arrested by 
sickness at New York. ]Mr. Webster had achieved a 
name in the Supreme Court. He was retained in 
nearly all the important cases at Washington. The 
Court was about to open, fortune and honor were be- 
fore him. He gave up his retainers, he sacrificed his 
prospects for years. Wealth and advancement had no 
attractions to draw him from the couch of his wife; 
he lingered there for months to receive the last sigh 
of the partner of his bosom. 

We meet in this hall, however, as the guardians of 
education; let us cherish the remembrance that he 
has, in his addresses, rendered service to the cause. 
He has ever pointed to the school-house as the ark 
of our safety. His giant efforts are embalmed in our 
school-books, enshrined with the speeches of Demos- 
thenes and Cicero, Burke, Sheridan, and Chatham, to 
animate and inspire the youth of our country. 

He was himself a bright exemplar of the power of 
education. Let us trace him from his humble home 
in the wilds of New Hampshire ; let us imagine him 
standing beside his father, and recall his interview in 
the field, with a member of Congress, and the words 
of tliut noble father when he said, " that man is in 
Congress because he had an education, and I might 
have filled his place could I have had the benefit of a 
school. You shall be educated." Let us follow him 
from the laljors of the farm and the menial offices of 
the inn, to tlie humble school of Master Tappan, to 
the fireside of the village clergyman, to Exeter and 
to Dartmouth. Let us observe him enter the bleak 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 153 

school-house, through the snow of a New Hampshire 
Avinter, with his breath freezing upon his coUar, to 
aid the humble means of his parent by his ill-paid 
labors as a teacher. Let us follow him to the Aca- 
demy, where he teaches by day and copies deeds by 
night, while he educates his brother, and strives to 
study his profession. Let us view him in the Short 
Street School, rousing the genius of Everett. Let us 
accompany him to the triumphs of the Bar and the 
Senate, until we leave him Secretary of State. Edu- 
cation has lifted him from the dust ; from turning; the 
sods of the valley, to guide the destinies of nations, to 
exert a mighty influence over the civilized world. Is 
not his whole career illustrative of the power of edu- 
cation? Is it not a noble incentive to the master in 
liis humble toils, to the ambitious youth strujrfflins: 
with adversity ? And does it not attest the importance 
of that system of schools which we meet here to pro- 
mote, a system so rapidly diffusing itself over the 
L"^nion? Should every million we invest^ produce but 
one Webster, would it not be well invested? 

The old ballad of Chevy Chase recites that, when 
the Kino; of Scotland was told of the death of Dous;- 
las, he replied that he had no warriors left like him; 
although the King of England, when mourning for his 
Percy's death, could replace liim with fifty more. 
Like Scotland's King, we mourn our Douglas dead ; 
more than England's King, we now mourn our match- 
less Percy ; but the system of education which has 
given us one Webster, will eventually give us more. 
There is a wide domain of talent to be cultivated ; 
rich material is in store for us. It shall not be 
wasted. 20 



154 WEBSTER .MEMORIAL. 

Through the dim vista of the future, I see, under 
the electric power of education, other Websters rise 
from their obscurity to guide the councils, and mould 
the destinies of our nation. 

Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 
The dark unf'athomcti caves of ocean bear. 

The cavern must be explored. The precious stones 
must be extracted and sent forth, radiant and spark- 
ling, to adorn the high places of the nation. In honor- 
ing Webster, we show our respect for education. We 
do but participate also in the grief of a nation. The 
solemn bell has tolled his requiem from spire to spire, 
city to city, until its murmurs are lost in the surges 
of the Pacific. 

His loss has been deplored by eloquent voices still 
ringing from thousands of pulpits. 

The thunder of cannon has proclaimed the nation's 
grief from shore to shore, fit memento of him whose 
lightning has flashed in the Senate Chamber, and 
whose thunder has rolled in the Forum. 

Even nature, in her sombre aspect, seems to mourn 
his loss. The groves of Franklin and of Marshfield 
sigh at his departure ; and may w^e not apply to the 
orator and lover of nature, as well as to the poet, 
those beautiful lines of Scott — 

Call it not vain, tliey do not err, 

Who say, that when the Poet dies. 
Mute Nature mourns her worshipper. 

And celebrates his obsequies ; 
Who say tall clitF, and cavern lone, 
For the departed Bard make moan ; 
That mountains weep in crystal rill ; 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 155 

That flowers in tears of balm distil ; 
Through his loved groves, that breezes sigh, 
And oaks, in deeper groan, reply; 
And Ocean tells its rushing wave 
To murmur dirjres round his jrrave. 

The resolutions were passed by a unanimous vote. 



i 



PROCEEDINGS AND RESOLUTIONS 



OF 



YAMOUS ASSOCIATIONS. 



PROCEP^DINGS OF THE WEBSTEll 
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



A MEETING of tlic Webster Executive Committee 
was held on Monday evening, October 25, General J. 
S. Tyler in the chair. Some discussion was had as 
to the course of duty devolved upon the Club by 
the death of jNIr. Webster, and a committee of seven 
persons was raised to consider the subject and report 
resolutions. 

At an adjourned meeting on Tuesday evening, Oc- 
tober 26, Mr. WiNSLOw, from the Committee of seven 
appointed on Monday evening, submitted the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

Resolved, That while overwhelmed with gi-ief by the death of 
our illustrious statesman and patriot, we would yet bow submis- 
sively to the will of Him who does all things well. 

Resolved, That our sorrow is mingled with deep and earnest 
gratitude that Daniel Webster was given to this nation, and that 
his life and teachings have impressed upon it lessons of lofty wis- 
dom and patriotism, which will not be forgotten. 

Resolved, That as his bereaved companion and other family re- 
latives mourn not alone, but the whole nation mourns with them, 
it is our fervent prayer that they may ever receive the sustaining 



160 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

symjiathies and benedictions of all the people of the land, as the 
only return which can now be offered for a debt of gratitude that 
can never be paid. 

Hesolced, That as a mark of respect for the great man, whose 
death Ave mourn, this convention recommend to the friends of the 
deceased to wear a badge of crajie on the left arm for thirty days. 

Hesolved, That as some special tribute is due from us to those 
great national principles maintained and defended by Mr. Webster 
while he lived, and dear to him in death, in addition to uniting 
most cordially in all the civic honors paid to him, we will also 
unite in a celebration that shall distinctly recognize and set forth 
those principles, in an eulogy to be delivered by an orator of our 
own selection, and that we invite our friends in all parts of the 
Commonwealth to join with us in said celebration. 

Hesolved, That be a committee to make all necessary 

arrangements to carry the above resolutions into effect ; to select 
the orator, appoint the time and place, and report to the Execu- 
tive Committee at an early day. 

The resolutions were adopted, and Messrs. C. A. 
White, C. Torrey, and T. Wiley were appointed as 
the Committee called for in the last resolve. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE WHIG WARD AND 
COUNTY CONVENTION. 



A MEETING of the Wliig Ward and County Conven- 
tion was held on the evening of October 29, and a 
series of appropriate resolutions were adopted. Farx- 
IIAM Plu.mmer, Esq., in introducing the resolutions, 
spoke as follows : 

Some five days have elapsed since those startling 
minute-guns, booming forth upon a bright and calm 
Sabbath morning, announced to the citizens of Bos- 
ton and its vicinity the painful ftict that the great 
lioart of that eminent statesman and illustrious fel- 
low-citizen, Daniel Webster, had forever ceased its 
pulsations. The interval has been occupied by the 
readiest writers and the ablest speakers, and our lan- 
guage has been found inadequate to express the deep 
feeling and emotion which are felt not only by the 
people of Boston, but also by the whole nation. The 
Committee have, therefore, approached the subject with 
great diffidence. They have embodied a few facts in 
simple words, and have only to add a hope that they 
may be unanimously adopted. 

21 



162 



WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 



Mesolved, That this Convention has heard with deep and poig- 
nant grief of the decease of our illustrious fellow-citizen, the Honor- 
able Daniel "Webster, and that, remembering his services as Repre- 
sentative of this city in Congress — as a Senator of our beloved 
Commonwealth in the Senate of the United States, and as on two 
occasions Secretary of State of the United States — we feel the 
truth so beautifully expressed by President Fillmore, that his 
fame belongs to America, and the admiration of it to all man- 
kind. 

Resolved, That as members of the Whig party, — of which he 
was through life the ablest representative, and in the advance- 
ment of whose doctrines and policy he made some of his noblest 
efforts, — we feel the irreparable loss our country has sustained ; — 
but that, above and beyond all party considerations, as American 
citizens, as constituent parts of this great and glorious Union, wd 
recall with pride his patriotism, bounded by no State lines, know- 
ing no North, no South, no East, no West ; — his care, his solicitude, 
and his unremitting labor for the perpetuation and aggrandizement 
of our common country, and for the preservation of that Consti- 
tution under whose blessings, by the aid of a kind Providence, 
we hope ourselves and our posterity may live — a great, a happy. 
and above all a united people. 

Resolved, That while his long and varied life has been but one 
series of victories achieved and triumphs gained for his State, 
his Country, and for Constitutional Liberty everywhere, we can 
but feel, as friends of the Christian Religion, that nothing Avas 
wanting to the perfection of such a life, but such an ending of 
it ; and that the brilliancy of his career is and could be equalled 
only by the splendor and beauty of its close. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the Pre- 
sident and Secretary of this Convention, be transmitted to the 
family of Mr. Webster, in token of our respect for his name, and 
of our condolence in this season of their affliction. 



PROCEEDINGS OF GRANITE CLUB, NO. 1. 



On Monday evening, October 25, a special meeting 
of the Granite club, No, 1, was held. The attendance 
was very large. Vice-President Orcutt, of Chelsea, 
presided. The meeting was called for the purpose of 
making some demonstration of respect to the memory 
of Daniel Webster. Hon. Aaron Hobart, in a few 
able and appropriate remarks, offered the following 
resolutions : 

Resolved, That there are occasions, when, without surrendering 
princii^les or intermitting duties, it is becoming, even in the midst 
of a great canvass for political power in the nation, to forget that 
we are partisans, and remember only that all are citizens of one 
common country. 

Resolved, That on no occasion has this reflection become so 
impressive as by the death of Daniel Webster ; of whom it can 
be said with emphatic truth, that if he belonged to any party or 
to any part of the Union, while living, his memory and his his- 
tory belong to his country, to the whole Union, and to the world. 

Resolved, That the democratic party, forgetting wherein they 
differed, will ever hold in grateful remembrance that great qual- 
ity of the great mind of Daniel "Webster, which led him, in 
almost every national crisis, to adhere to the Union with a patri- 
otism that could not be bounded by party limits, and with a 
devotion to that Union equalled only by the eloquence with which 
he enforced its binding obligations upon all sections of the coun- 



164 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

try ; that they will look for no spots on the sun of his glorious 
fume, wliilc they can see shining there to light posterity his 
manly vindication of popular government and independence in 
Greece, South America, and Hungary, against the dogmas of the 
"Holy Allies" and despots of Europe, his early development of 
the great democratic principles of free trade and solid currency, 
and his noble championship of the Constitution in 1830 and 1850, 
for the supremacy of the laws and the integrity of the Union. 

JResoIved, That in the great lights in which he will be viewed 
hereafter, he will be regarded by all men, who honor genius and 
intellect, and noble thoughts and manly acts, as a splendid model 
of the character developed under our Republican institutions, and 
an illustrious instance of the power of character thus developed, 
to defend that Union upon which depend all Republican insti- 
tutions on this Continent, and all hope of their organization in 
any other portion of the globe. 

liesolved, That the last words of the dying statesman, " I still 
live" spoke not only of that immortality beyond earth, in which 
he held a confiding faith, but will forever be true and full of 
meaning among men ; for while the Union lives, it will be said 
of him, as he himself said of the illustrious dead, Jefferson 
and Adams, when pronouncing their eulogy in Faneuil Hall, 
" His body is buried in peace, but his name liveth evermore." 

Resolved, That it is honorable to human nature to find, on occa- 
sions of the decease of eminent statesmen, the concuri-ence of all 
political parties in doing honor to their memories ; and in this 
spirit, and with full hearts, we lay our offerings of profound grief, 
respect, and admiration upon the tomb of Daniel Webster ; re- 
joicing, nevertheless, that in answer to his own fervent prayer 
of patriotic devotion, when death did come, God has granted, 
" that Avhen his eyes were turned to behold for the last time the 
sun in heaven, they saw him shining (and with well founded 
faith that he Avould so shine for all generations to come), on our 
glorious Union, with the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now 
known and honored throughout the earth, still full high, advanced 
and advancing, not a single star obscured, not a single stripe erased, 
and still bearing for its motto, everywhere spread all over, in 
characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they 



PROCEEDINGS OF GR.iNITE CLUB, NO. 1. 165 



float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under 
the heavens, that sentiment, dear to every true American, " Li- 
berty AND UnIOX, now and FOREVER, ONE AND INSEPARA- 
BLE." 

J. Hardy Prince, Esq., paid a most glowing tribute 
to the memory of Mr. Webster, in a speech of great 
ability and eloquence, followed by J. Harris Smith, 
Esq., who advocated the passage of the resolutions. 
The question upon the resolutions was then taken, 
and they passed unanimously. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE WEBSTER 
UNDER-VOTERS. 



The Webster Under-Voters of this city met on 
Tuesday evening, October 26, to take suitable mea- 
sures for a tribute to the memory of Daniel Webster. 
Arthur J. G. Sowdon presided. The meeting was 
\QYy large, and the proceedings were characterized 
by that order and propriety so befitting the occa- 
sion, the place, and the young gentlemen themselves. 
The following resolutions were offered by Mr. 
Eayres, and unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, Through the dispensation of an all-wise Providence, 
we have been called upon to mourn the loss of that great states- 
man, patriot, and Christian, Daniel Webster, who has ever been to 
us from our earliest childhood the synonyme of all tliat is great 
and good in man — around whom we have so often delighted to 
gather as around a kind of parent to catch the Avords of wisdom 
and instruction which fell from his lips ; whose strains of magic 
eloquence are to us as household words ; whose lofty sentiments of 
patriotism have sunk so deep into our hearts that time can never 
erase them ; — therefore, 

Resolved, That in the intense grief and heartfelt sorrow which 
now pervade the country at the death of Daniel Webster, the 
Young Men of Boston would mingle their tears and join their sor- 



168 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

rows, feeling that the loss which they have sustained is only ex- 
ceeded by that which their country is compelled to mourn. 

Besolved, That by the death of Daniel Webster, the brightest 
star in the glorious constellation of master spirits which has so long 
lighted up the pathway of human liberty through the world, has 
set forever; and the young men of Boston, living in the immediate 
vicinity of Bunker Hill, Lexington, and Plymouth — breathing in 
the spirit of patriotism with the very breath we draw ; cannot but feel 
the most poignant grief at the irreparable loss which their country, 
the cause of liberty and republican institutions, have sustained. 

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the family and fi'iends 
of the illustrious deceased, in this their afflicting bereavement, and 
would assure them that the young men of Boston will ever entertain 
the liveliest emotions of gratitude for the services of him who was 
the defender of the Constitution and the preserver of our liberties. 

Resolved, That in consideration of the great loss which has 
fallen upon the world at large, our country, and ourselves individu- 
ally, the members of this Club will wear the usual badge of 
mourning on the left arm for a pei'iod of thirty days. 

Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed, to consti- 
tute with the government of the Club a Committee of Arrange- 
ments, to take such further measures as they may deem proper, to 
give expression to the sad feelings of this Club. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to Mrs. 
Webster. 

Addresses were made by Messrs. Sowdon, Bates, 
and Eayres. 



MEETING OF TIIE BOSTON MERCHANTS. 



The Merchants of Boston met on Monday afternoon, 
October 25, at the Merchants' Exchange ReacUng 
Boom, to take such measures as might be deemed 
appropriate, in view of the death of Daniel Webster, 
whose life was one long devotion to the mercantile 
interests of Boston. 

The meeting Avas called to order by George B. Up- 
ton, Esq., and organized by the choice of Hon. Wil- 
LL\JM Appleton, as President, ayIio, on taking the chair, 
made a few touching and eloquent remarks upon the 
life, services, and death of Mr. Webster. 

J. Thomas Stevenson, Esq., then proceeded to ad- 
dress the meeting as follows : 

Gentlemen — The occasion of this meeting is elo- 
quently told in the silent countenances of those who 
compose it, and calls for no louder utterance. Cer- 
tainly no hurried words could either add to, or sub- 
due the universal sorrow, whose shadows are resting 
upon the hearts of those who realize that the event 
of yesterday has removed from them a friend, a 
counsellor, a guide, a benefactor, a patriot. 

I am requested to say to you, that the purpose 

22 



170 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

for which "vve have been called together, is the ap- 
pointment of a committee with power to arrange for 
such testimonial on the part of the merchants of Bos- 
ton as that event prompts. 

Mr. Stevenson offered the following resolution : 

Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed by the Chair, 
to confer with any other committees that may be chosen by other 
bodies of our citizens, on the subject of a testimonial to the ser- 
vices of Daniel Webster. 

The Chair appointed the following gentlemen as the 
Committee, viz. : — Messrs. Nathan Appleton, John T. 
Heard, Thomas B. Curtis, James K. Mills, A. AV. Thax- 
ter, Jr., Enoch Train, Levi Dowley, Thomas Gray. 

The meeting was then dissolved. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF BROKERS. 



At the reo'ular meetino- of tlie Board of Brokers 
held on Monday, Octoher 25, the follomng resolu- 
tions were unanimously passed : 

Wliereas, by the dispensation of Divine Providence we are 
called to mourn the death of our illustrious fellow-citizen, Daniel 
"Webster ; — 

Resolved, That we lament the loss of this great Statesman and 
Patriot, the intelligence of whose death has cast a cloud of sor- 
row over the whole community. 

Resolved, As a mark of respect, the Board do now adjourn. 

J. J. SoLET, Secretary. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE MERCANTILE 
LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 



At a special meeting of the Board of Directors of 
tlie Mercantile Library Association of Boston, held on 
Monday evening, October 25, 1852, the following reso- 
lution, submitted by ^Ir. James A. Woolson, was una- 
nimously adopted : 

Besolved, In consequence of the intelligence we have received 
of the death of the Honorable Daniel "Webster, Secretary of State of 
the United States, the President of this Association be requested 
to call a special meeting of the members, to take place on Wednes- 
day evening, the 27th instant, that measures may be taken to mani- 
fest our deep regret at the loss the nation has sustained in the 
death of this great American Statesman. 

A very large meeting of the members of this Asso- 
ciation w^as held in their rooms Wednesday evening, 
October 27. Appropriate remarks were made by 
George S. Blanchard, the President, and speeches 
were made by L. II. Tasker, Charles G. Chase, and 
Hexry Blanchard. The following resolutions, offered 
by John Stetson, were unanimously adopted : 

Besolved, That the members of this Association have heard with 
deep grief the afflicting intelligence of the death of Mr. Webster : 



174 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

an event which bereaves the country of its ablest and most com- 
prehensive statesman; the Bar of" its most distinguished leader; 
the great interests of peace, commerce, and union, of their noblest 
champion — and the whole nation of the grandest exemplar of 
those free institutions to whose defence his long and illustrious life 
was devoted. 

Mcsolved, That in this event, we recognize the departure of a 
colossal mind, whose faculties, rare in their separate excellencies, 
and rarer still in their harmonious combination, have stamped on 
American history, legislation, and eloquence, the massive impress 
of their wisdom and power ; a mind which in precision, depth, fer- 
vor, amplitude, and force, in closeness and clearness of statement, 
rigor of reasoning, and wide-reaching grasp of principles, and in the 
greatness and grandeur of soul which accompanied its most practi- 
cal application to affairs, — had no rival, and has left no successor, 
though "it still lives" in the imperishable records of its ample 
and majestic wisdom. 

Resolved, That while the death of such a man is so heavy a 
calamity to the nation as to make all public reference to private 
sorrow almost out of place, gratitude compels us to acknowledge 
that while we fully sympathize in the wide-spread sense of national 
loss, we have also to mourn a valuable friend and counsellor, to 
whom the Association is indebted for many important favors and 
benefits. 

Hesolved, That this Association will unite in any public solemni- 
ties which may take place under the auspices of the City Authori- 
ties ; and the Board of Directors be requested to make all required 
arrangements for that purpose. 

Subsequently Mr. Charles H. Allen was elected 
Chief Marshal of the Association on the occasion of 
the Funeral Solemnities. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE MECHANIC APPREN- 
TICES LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. 



The Mechanic Ai^prentices Library Association held 
a special meeting on Wednesday eveningj October 
27, and the following resolutions were unanimously 
adopted : 

Resolved, That our country has sustained an irreparable loss. 
That, in common with the inhabitants thereof, we mingle our heart- 
felt tears of sympathy and consolation with his bereaved family, 
and with the nation, with whose history his life has been so long 
interwoven. 

Resolved, That the honesty of purpose and strict integrity with 
which he has sustained himself as a statesman and patriot, and 
the unwavering patriotism which he has ever manifested in the sup- 
port of the Constitution, will render his name immortal ; and in 
the hearts of the people he will "still live," after all that is mortal 
is no more, and when the monuments which eulogize his memory 
shall have crumbled to the dust. 

Resolved, That the event of his death fills us all with feelings of 
xinfeigned sadness ; and, as a token of our respect to his memory, we 
clothe our rooms in the habiliments of mourning, and that a com- 
mittee of five be appointed to carry the above into effect. 



PROCEEDINGS OF MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 
OF THE CINCINNATI. 



At a meeting of the Massachusetts Society of the 
Cincinnati, duly convened by the President of the 
same, the Hon. Robert G. Shaw, in Boston, October 
26, 1852, for the purpose of taking measures to mani- 
fest a proper tribute of respect to the memory of the 
late Daniel Webster, an honorary member of said 
society ; — 

Voted, That Robei't G. Shaw, the Rev. Mr. Baury, and Adams 
Bailey, be a committee to take into consideration what measures 
should be adopted ; and draft such resolutions of condolence with 
the family of the late Daniel Webster as shall be deemed most 
proper. 

Voted, That the members of this Society be requested to wear 
crape on the left arm for thirty days as a testimonial of respect for 
their lately deceased honorary member, Daniel Webster. 

At a subsequent meeting, held November 4th, the 
foregoing committee submitted the following resolu- 
tions which were unanimously adopted : 

When a nation is in tears, mourning under the bereaving stroke 
of Divine Providence, which has taken from them, by death, one of 
the most gifted of her sons ; eminent for wisdom, and patriotism, and 
virtue; — who, like the Father of the Repubhc, knew no North, 

23 



178 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

or South, East or West, but devoted himself alike, with all the 
powers and faculties of his noble and expansive mind, to the pro- 
motion of his country's honor, and his country's welfare ; under 
such a bereavement, what remains, to soothe the anguish thus occa- 
sioned, while bowing in devout submission to the good pleasure of 
him who does not afflict willingly or grieve the children of men, 
but to muse on departed worth and greatness, whereby is elicited 
the unfeigned tribute of respect and veneration for his name, and 
his memory. Therefore 

Resolved, That the members of the Massachusetts Society of 
the Cincinnati, will ever cherish a grateful remembrance of the 
invaluable services rendered, through a series of years, and during 
some of the most critical periods of the Eepublic's history, by their 
late Honorary member, Daniel Webster, in the national legislature, 
and more i-ecently in the cabinet councils of the General Govern- 
ment of the United States, contributing, in an eminent degree, to 
the peace and safety, honor and prosperity of the nation, no less 
than to the preservation and permanence of the Union under the 
Federal Constitution. 

Resolved, That while the members of this Society mourn, together 
with their fellow-citizens through the length and breadth of the 
land, the impressive bereavement which fills all hearts with sorrov/, 
they most gratefully acknowledge the superintending Providence 
of God, in providing for the American people a succession of dis- 
tinguished statesmen and ardent patriots, who have perpetuated in 
their purity and integrity, principles promulgated by the immortal 
Washington, and which the illustrious Webster most ably main- 
tained and eloquently defended to his last beating pulse. 

Resolved, That the members of the Massachusetts Society of the 
Cincinnati, in giving utterance to their sense of the severe calamity 
with which tlie United States has been visited in the removal of the 
Honorable Daniel Webster from the scenes of his earthly labors, 
are not unmindful of the irreparable loss sustained by those who 
were associated with liim in the more intimate and endearing 
relations of private life. Ties, which nature and affection unite 
with such a man, must touch every nerve of sorrow, and render 
grief almost insupportable. Consolation, however, even under such 
circumstances, is mercifully extended to assuage the grief of all 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 179 

who mourn in the consideration of the useful life of the departed 
statesman, and the calmness Avith Avhich he resigned his spirit in 
death to the God who gave it. 

Resolved, That the President of the Massachusetts Society of 
the Cincinnati be requested to communicate to the flimily of the 
late Honorable Daniel Webster, with every expression of sympathy 
and condolence, a copy of the preceding preamble and resolutions, 
and that the Secretary cause the same to be entered upon the records. 



ORDERS OF THE GOVERNOR OF MASSA- 
CHUSETTS. 



OFFICIAL. 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

General Order, No. 7. 

Head-Quarters, ) 
Boston, October 28th, 1852. | 

The Comniandcr-iii-Chief, having been informed that 
the illustrous statesman and patriot, Daniel Webster, 
Secretary of State of the United States, died at his 
residence in Marshfiekl, on the 24th day of October 
instant — orders, that minute-guns be fired at Head- 
Quarters, from 12 o'clock at noon to 1 o'clock in the 
afternoon of this day, as an expression of the public 
sorrow, and as a testimonial of respect for the emi- 
nent services and character of the deceased. 

Major-General B. F. Edmands is charged with the 
execution of the above order. The Acting Quarter- 
master-General will furnish the necessary ammunition, 
on application of the officer detailed to command the 
detachment. 

By order of his Excellency, 

George S. Boutwell, 
Governor and Commander-hir Chief. 

Ebenezer W. Stone, Adjutant- General. 



182 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 



COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Head-Quarters, ) 
Boston, October 29tli, 1852. ( 

The Commander-in-Chief, as a further mark of re- 
spect to the memory of Daniel Webster, orders, that 
a Federal Salute be fired at Head-Quarters, at sun- 
rise, Minute-guns from 12 M. to 2 P. ]M., and a National 
Salute at sunset, on the 29th instant, being the day 
of the funeral obsequies at Marshfield. 

Major-General B. F. Edmands is charged with the 
execution of this order. The Acting Quartermaster- 
General Avill furnish the necessary ammunition on 
application of the officer detailed to command the 
detachment. 

By command of his Excellency, 

George S. Boutwell, 
Governor and Commander-in- Chief. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE BUNKER HILL 
MONUMENT ASSOCIATION. 



At a special meeting of the Board of Directors 
of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, on Wed- 
nesday, October 27, the following resolutions were 
passed : 

Resolved, That the Directoi's of the Bunker Hill Monument 
Association do most severely sympathize in the general grief which 
has overwhelmed the country in the national loss which it has so 
unexpectedly been called upon to bear ; by which sad event one 
of the founders and projectors of the great work of the Association 
has been removed from earth, the memory of whose undying elo- 
quence uttered before a vast multitude on Bunker Hill at the laying 
of the corner stone of the Monument, and also at its completion, 
will be forever identified with that imperishable memorial to tlie 
cause of republican liberty. 

Resolved, That the eminent public services of the illustrious 
deceased, rendered throughout his whole life, constantly, in full 
measure and with the most cordial readiness, at the sacrifice of his 
I)ersonal interest, furnish the best example of that high aim which 
he so eloquently set forth to his countrymen ; for his whole life was 
to his country, his whole country, and nothing hut his country. 

Resolved, That in respect to the memory of Daniel Webster, 
the monument be dressed with appropriate badges of mourning 
for the space of thirty days, and that it be recommended to the 



184 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

officers and members of the Association to wear the usual badge 
of mourning upon the left arm for the same term. 

Resolved, That the President, Secretary, and Treasurer of this 
Association, with lion. Stephen Faii'banks, Hon. Nathan Hale, 
lion. Albert Fearing, Joseph Tilden, Esq., Henry Forster, Esq., 
and Henry A. Pierce, Esq., be appointed a delegation to attend 
the funeral of the deceased on Friday next. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the record of 
the Association ; that a copy of them, signed by the President and 
Secretary, be forwarded to the family of the deceased, and that 
they also be published in the journals of the day. 

G. Washington Warren, President. 

Joseph H. Buckingham, Secretary. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS 
CILVPvITABLE ^^ffiCHANICS' ASSOCIATION. 



At a special meeting of the Massachusetts Charita- 
ble Mechanics' Association, held on the evening of 
October 29, the folloAving gentlemen were appointed 
a Committee to report resolutions in relation to the 
national bereavement which has just fallen upon the 
American people : — Stephen Fairbanks, George Dar- 
racott, James Clark, Henry N. Hooper, John Rayner, 
Nathaniel Hammond, Enoch Hobart, Elijah ^iNIears, Fre- 
derick W. Lincoln, Jr. 

The Committee having retired, subsequently re- 
ported the following resolutions, which were unani- 
mously adopted : 

Resolved, That this Association shares in the general sensibility 
and sorrow pervading this community, at the great national loss 
which the country lias sustained in the recent decease of its emi- 
nent Statesman and Patriot, Daniel Webster. 

Resolved, That while his departure from this life casts a gloom 
over the hearts of our countrymen in every part of tlie Union, 
as well as upon the friends of constitutional liberty tliroughout 
the world, yet this bereavement has a deeper poignancy of grief 
to us who participated with him in those closer local relations 

24 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS 
CHARITABLE :MECnANICS' ASSOCIATION. 



At ii special meeting of the Massachusetts Charita- 
ble Mechanics' Association, held on the evening of 
October 29, the following gentlemen were appointed 
a Committee to report resolutions in relation to the 
national bereavement which has just fallen upon the 
American people : — Stephen Fairbanks, George Dar- 
racott, James Clark, Henry N. Hooper, John Rayner, 
Nathaniel Hammond, Enoch Hobart, Elijah JMears, Fre- 
derick W. Lincoln, Jr. 

The Committee having retired, subsequently re- 
ported the folloAA'ing resolutions, w^hich were unani- 
mously adopted : 

Resolved, That this Association shares in the general sensibility 
and sorrow pervading this community, at the great national loss 
which the country has sustained in the recent decease of its emi- 
nent Statesman and Patriot, Daniel Webster. 

Resolved, That while his departure from this life casts a gloom 
over the hearts of our countrymen in every part of the Union, 
as well as upon the friends of constitutional liberty throughout 
the world, yet this bereavement has a deeper poignancy of grief 
to us who participated with him in those closer local relations 

2-4 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SONS OF NEW 

HAMPSHIRE. 



At a meeting of tlie Sons of New Hampshire, held 
November 6, 1852, the following Resolutions were 
unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That in the death of Daniel Webster the State of 
New Hampshire has lost the most eminent of her Sons, the United 
States their greatest Statesman, and the World one of its most 
distingnished Jurists. 

Resok-ed, That, while in common with others, we have vene- 
rated him for his majestic intellect, honored him for his wise 
and patriotic counsels and great public services, and share in the 
general grief which pervades the whole country upon the occa- 
sion of this national bereavement, he has been endeared to us 
still moi'C by his private virtues, the kindness of his heart, and 
the warmtli of his affections. 

Resolved, That this afHictive dispensation of Divine Providence, 
more especially as it has removed the officer appointed to pre- 
side at our proposed Festival, renders that Festival inappropriate 
at the present time, and that, as a token of respect to his memory, 
it be postponed. 

Resolved, That we respectfully tender the expression of our 
warmest sympathies to the family and relatives of Mr. Webster, 
and that the Chairman be requested to transmit to them a copy 
of these resolutions. 

A copy of Eecord. 

E. J. BuRBANK, Secretary. 



192 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

tion of a jurist, the Corporation deem it appropriate 
for tliem to speak, "witli the admiring applause it de- 
serves, of liis character as a scholar, and a man of 
letters, a classic writer, and a consummate orator. 
The discipline he imposed upon himself, from his earli- 
est 3''0uth, in the pursuit of knowledge and skill in 
these departments of intellectual culture, contending 
with, and overcoming obstacles thrown in his way by 
poverty, obscurity of position, and some natural ten- 
dency to self-distrust, may well serve as an example, 
and his eminent success as an encouragement, to the 
young, to lose no moment and no opportunity for the 
cultivation of the faculties they may j)ossess. Mr. 
Webster's wonderful powers "were made available to 
the good of his country, and of mankind, by his in- 
dustry and faithfulness in the use of them, from the 
earliest period at which any thing is recorded of him 
to the latest hour of his life ; and while his talents 
command admiration, the warmer feelings of ajjproba- 
tion and gratitude are excited by his devotion of 
them to the highest purposes. The noble example he 
has given of patriotism, truth, and religious fidelity to 
his convictions, is of immeasurable value ; and his me- 
mory will be cherished by the multitudes with whom 
he has been associated, and by countless generations, 
who will know him only by the blessings they will 
owe. 

A true copy of the record, 

James Walker, Secretary. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SONS OF NEW 

HAMPSHIRE. 



At a meeting of the Sons of New Hampshire, held 
November G, 1852, the following Resolutions were 
unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That in the death of Daniel "Webster the State of 
New Hampshire has lost the most eminent of her Sons, the United 
States their greatest Statesman, and the AVorld one of its most 
distinguished Jurists. 

Resolved, That, while in common with others, we have vene- 
rated him for his majestic intellect, honored him for his wise 
and patriotic counsels and great public services, and share in the 
general grief which pervades the whole country upon the occa- 
sion of this national bereavement, he has been endeared to us 
still more by his private virtues, the kindness of his heart, and 
the warmth of his affections. 

Resolved, That this afflictive dispensation of Divine Providence, 
more especially as it has removed the officer appointed to pre- 
side at our proposed Festival, renders that Festival inappropriate 
at the present time, and that, as a token of respect to his memory, 
it be postponed. 

Resolved, That we respectfully tender the expression of our 
warmest sympathies to the family and relatives of Mr. Webster, 
and that the Chairman be requested to transmit to them a copy 
of these resolutions. 

A copy of Record. 

R. J. BuRBANK, Secretary. 



194 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

their tribute of respect to the high services and renowned name of 
an honored associate, whose matchless powers, devoted to liis country, 
have performed such works as enrich a nation's annals, and make 
its history glorious. 

Your Committee would further recommend, that Mr. George 
Ticknor be appointed to prepare a memoir of Mr. Webster, for the 
Society's publications. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 
OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



At a meeting of the Academy at their ruoiii in 
the Athenaeum Building, November 1st, Professor Fel- 
T0\, of Harvard University, called the attention of the 
members present to a deceased Fellow, the Honorable 
Daniel Webster, by an address in the following terms : 

Mr. President — I rise to suggest that the recent 
death of an illustrious citizen, be suitably noticed by 
this Academy, of which he was a FelloAV. From every 
f[uarter of the country the voice of mourning and 
lamentation strikes upon the ear; on every side the 
emblems of grief meet the eye. Daniel Webster is 
no more, and the great heart of the nation is smitten 
with sorrow under so heavy a bereavement. All classes 
of men — all parties — all professions and occupations 
— join in doing honor to his memory, with a una- 
nimity of grief unexampled since the death of the 
Father of his Country. 

It is not my purpose or province to eulogize the 
man whom a nation deplores. That sad and grateful 



106 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

task has been performed by lips touched with the liv- 
ing flame of eloquence from the altar where his own 
eloquence was kindled. Those who stood by him 
longest in public life and who shared most intimate- 
ly in his friendship and fireside conversation ; his 
brethren at the Bar, where he was foremost; his asso- 
ciates in the Senate, where he was the first among 
equals; his colleagues in the Cabinet, where he was 
the guiding star of policy ; they who have acted with 
him or under him, in diplomacy, — will most fittingly 
delineate his character, in its massive proportions and 
towering grandeur. 

The currents of public and professional life bore 
him, in a measure, away from the fields of science 
and letters; and his winter residence, for many years 
at a distance from this city, deprived us of his per- 
sonal cooperation in the proceedings of this Academy. 
Yet, in the midst of great and constant professional 
labors; under the weight of public duties and the 
cares of office, his comprehensive mind has never been 
alienated from the genial pursuits of letters and sci- 
ence. In his legal arguments and his public dis- 
courses, he has shown rich acquirements in learning, 
and a minute familiarity with the progress of modern 
discovery. In the science of government, in political 
philosophy, he was without a superior. The profound 
thoughts, matured by his luminous intellect, and given 
to the public through a long series of years, have be- 
come a part of the common sense of the country. He 
was no stranger to the walks of ancient learning. 
The ethical and political wisdom of Aristotle and Ci- 
cero he had deeply studied. The poem of Homer, and 



AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 197 

the histories of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Polybius, 
commanded his admiration, and occupied many of his 
leisure hours. The great Roman Masters were, in a 
more special manner, his daily friends and compa- 
nions; and he read their works not only with an ap- 
preciation of the substance and philosophy, but with 
a refined discrimination of their manner and style. 
With the best writers in English literature, his ac- 
quaintance was profound and critical. Those who have 
heard him read from Shakspeare, Milton, and Gray, 
and converse upon them afterwards, remember, not 
only how deeply he entered into the spirit of these 
illustrious authors, but with what rare felicity of judg- 
ment and delicacy of taste he discriminated the mi- 
nutest shades of beauty, in the structure of their 
sentences, and the choice and arrangement of their 
words. This fine literary taste, the result of natural 
gifts disciplined by study, is seen in the freshness, 
vigor, and beauty of his style, in his published Avorks. 
Mr. Webster was accustomed to lament that the 
pressure of business had limited his studies to frag- 
mentary portions of time ; and to regret that he had 
so seldom enjoyed, for any length of time, the society 
of scientific men. Yet he had not failed to keep pace 
with the progress of science in our age. I remember 
falling accidentally in his company, more than twenty 
years since, among the granite mountains of New 
Hampshire, and noticing that the book he had taken 
with him, on a journey of recreation, was a treatise, 
then just published, on the science of Geology. In a 
conversation I held with him just five weeks before 
his death, he told me that many years ago, being 



198 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

unable to visit remote localities, and to examine the 
formations in situ, and yet desirous to see the order 
of nature with his own eyes while he read, he had 
employed a learned geologist to make a collection of 
specimens, and to arrange them on shelves, according 
to the succession of layers in the crust of the earth. 
I might enumerate other sciences, the progress of 
which had not escaped his attention. The principles 
of Physical Geography, its relations to the history of 
man, and the distribution of the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms over the face of the earth, as developed by 
Ritter and Humboldt, were well understood by him. 
Among the books which occupied the last months of 
his life, was Humboldt's Cosmos, which he had care- 
fully studied, mastering its substance and details with 
characteristic ability and comprehension. His tastes 
as a sportsman had led him to observe carefully the 
habits of the fishes of our streams and coasts, and his 
knowledge of them was extensive and exact. One of 
the plans he had laid out for the leisure he seemed 
about to enjoy, Avas to ^mte a work, in which these 
observations should be recorded. The last request he 
made to me, in the conversation I have alluded to, 
was that I would submit to a member of this Aca- 
demy, whose work on Fresh-water Fishes he had re- 
cently examined, certain questions relating to some 
of tlie phenomena of Ichthyology, which' he had no- 
ticed, but did not fully understand. 

I liave thought, Mr. President, that the character 
and woiivs of this distinguished person were such that 
his associates in tliis Academy would deem it fitting 
to notice the Dispensation of Pro\ddence which has 



AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 199 

taken him away. I am persuaded it will be the dic- 
tate of every heart, — if I may borrow the words of 
one of his favorite authors, — '-Sic memoriam venerari, 
ut omnia facta dictaque ejus secum revolvant, for- 
mamque ac figuram animi magis quam corporis com- 
plectantur. Forma mentis ?eterna. Quidquid ex eo 
amavimus, quidquid mirati sumus, manet, mansurum- 
que est, in animis hominum, in a?ternitate temporum, 
fama rerum." 

I ask leave to offer the following resolutions : 

Resolved, That the Fellows of the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences deeply lament the decease of their late associate, 
the Honorable Daniel Webster, Secretary of State of the United 
States. By his death the Country is bereaved of her ablest prac- 
tical statesman, and profoundest political philosopher ; Letters and 
Eloquence have lost a most distinguished ornament ; Science is de- 
prived of a great and versatile mind, which understood its pxx)- 
gress, appreciated its value, recognized its dignity, and mastered 
its results, in the midst of professional labors and public cares, to 
which his energies were devoted almost to the last moment of 
his life. 

Resolved, That the Fellows of this Academy tender to the 
family of their late eminent associate their most respectful sym- 
pathy, in this private and public calamity. 

The resolutions were seconded by the Hon. Francis 
C. Gray, who made some remarks, and by Professor 
Parsons, of the Cambridge Law School, who spoke in 
their support; and they were unanimously adopted. 



FUNERAL. 



26 



THE FONERAL. 



FiiiDAY, October 29, was the day of Mr. Webster's 
funeral. Boston never before presented — probably 
never will again present — so general an aspect of 
mourning, and never were there witnessed such spon- 
taneous, universal, and deep tokens of feeling. Most 
of the shops were closed, as well as the public in- 
stitutions, offices, and markets ; and a large propor- 
tion of the city was dressed in the habiliments of 
sorrow. The mourning draperies upon many of the 
buildings, public and private, were rich, elaborate, and 
tasteful. Festoons of black and white were almost 
continuous through Washington, Hanover, and other 
principal streets ; and multiplied mottoes, expressing 
grief and admiration, were placed upon walls and 
over door-ways. Flags, prepared with inscriptions and 
dressed in mourning, were extended across the streets. 
In general, the mottoes and inscriptions were ex- 
tremely well chosen and appropriate, and were a 
proof, not only of the estimation in which Mr. Web- 
ster was held in Boston, but of the high standard of 
taste and cultivation among its citizens. 

In the multiplicity of these personal and spontane- 



204 AYEUSTEll ME-MOUIAL. 

ous expressions of feelinii-, it is impossible to describe, 
or specify any ; but from amongst the mottoes, of 
wliich more than a hundred were exhibited, the fol- 
lowing are selected : 

Ills words of wisdom, with resistless power, 

Have graced our brightest, cheered our darkest hour. 

Thou liast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. 

We've scanned the actions of his daily life and nothing meets our eyes 

but deeds of honor. 

Some when they die, die all. Their mouldering clay is but an emblem 
of their memories. But he has lived, lie leaves a work be- 
hind which will jiluck the shining age from vulgar 
time, and give it whole to late posterity. 

Thou art mighty yet. Thy spirit Avalks abroad. 

The great heart of the nation throbs heavily at the portals of his grave. 

Live like patriots ! Live like Americans ! United all, united now, and 

united forever. 

Wherever among men a heart shall be found that beats to the trans- 
ports of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations shall 
be to claim kindred with his spirit. 

Then this Daniel was preferred above the Presidents and Princes, 
because an excellent spirit was in him. 

Know thou, O stranger, to the fame 
Of this much loved, much honored name, 
(For none that knew him need be told,) 
A wai-nier heart Death ne'er made cold. 

The glory of tliy lil'c, like the day of thy death, shall not lUil Irom the 

remembrance of man. 

Between twelve and one — the hour of the funeral 



THE FUNERAL. 205 

at Marslifi eld — minute guns were fired, and the bells 
of the churches were tolled ; from sunrise to sunset 
guns were fired every fifteen minutes, and almost con- 
tinuously. Similar signs of mourning were heard from 
the hills of the neighboring towns, and along the line 
of the coast. The streets were crowded with citizens 
and visitors from the country, reading the inscriptions, 
and walking through the public buildings, all wearing, 
upon their saddened countenances, tokens of sincere 
sorrow. Though a day of leisure and entire cessa- 
tion from labor, there was no thought of any thing 
but our great loss. There were no smiling faces to 
be seen, and no cheerful voices to be heard. 

The funeral solemnities were at Mr. Webster's own 
residence in Marshfield. In conformity with the wish 
expressed in his will, every thing was arranged with 
the utmost simplicity, in the order usual in a New 
England funeral, but private it could not be. In ad- 
dition to the general sense of loss in the removal of 
a great leader and a statesman, in whose wisdom and 
firmness so strong a confidence was reposed, there 
was in many hearts a feeling of personal bereave- 
ment in the death of a revered and beloved friend ; 
and thus thousands were led to the spot by a wish 
to honor his memory and look once more upon his 
face. From all quarters, by every path, and by every 
conveyance, great multitudes came together ; and the 
whole number of persons assembled at the hour of 
noon was probably not less than ten or twelve thou- 
sand. 

A thoughtful consideration for the feelings of all 
who were present was shown in the arrangements of 



206 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

the funeral. In order that the wish which all felt, 
to look for the last time upon the face of the illus- 
trious dead, might be gratified without hurry or con- 
fusion, the body was brought from the library at an 
early hour in the morning and placed upon the lawn, 
in front of the house, beneath the open heavens and 
under a tree which, in its summer foliage, was a con- 
spicuous ornament of the spot. The majestic form 
reposed in the familiar garb of life, with more than 
the dignity of life in its most imposing moments. 
Suffering had changed, without impairing those noble 
features. The grandeur of the brow was untouched, 
and the attitude full of strength and peace. For 
more than three hours a constant stream of men and 
women, of all ages, passed on both sides, pausing for 
a moment to look upon that loved and honored form. 
Parents held their children by the hand, bade them 
contemplate the face of their benefactor, and charged 
them never to lose the memory of that spectacle and 
that hour. Many dissolved into tears as they turned 
aside; and one — a man of ]Aam garb and appearance — 
was heard to make, in a subdued voice, the striking- 
remark, '' Daniel Webster, the world will seem lone- 
some without you." 

The thoughtful and kindly feeling which dictated 
all the arrangements, permitted any who wished, 
to enter the house by the principal entrance, walk 
througli a small sitting-room, where hang several fami- 
ly portraits, and going through the library, a beauti- 
ful and favorite room, ornamented with the like- 
nesses of Mr. Webster and Lord Ashburton, pass out 
upon the lawn. Thousands availed themselves of this 



THE FUXERAL. 207 

privilege, — silently, decorously, sadly. There was no 
sound fi'om that vast multitude, but the ine\dtable 
grating of their feet upon the paths. This was like the 
chafing of the surf upon a pebbly beach, — a strange, 
impressive murmur. 

At twelve, the passing through the house was 
stopped. Soon afterwards, the Rev. Ebenezer Alden, 
pastor of the Congregational Church in South Marsh- 
field, where Mr. Webster had been accustomed to 
attend public worship, commenced the religious ser- 
vice by reading a selection from the Bible. After 
wdiich, the following address was made by him: 

On an occasion like the present, a multitude of 
words were worse than idle. Standing before that ma- 
jestic form, it becomes ordinary men to keep silence. 
"He being dead, yet speaketh." In the words he 
applied to Washington, in the last great public dis- 
course he ever delivered, the whole atmosphere is 
redolent of his name ; hills and forests, rocks and 
rivers, echo and reecho his praises. All the good, 
whether learned or unlearned, high or low, rich or 
poor, feel this day that there is one treasure common 
to them all, and that is the fame and character of 
Webster. They recount his deeds, ponder over his 
principles and teachings, and resolve to be more and 
more guided by them in future. Americans by bu'th 
are proud of his character, and exiles from foreign 
shores are eager to participate in admiration of him; 
and it is true that he is, tliis day, here, everywhere, 
more an object of love and regard than on any day 
since his birth. 



208 WKBrfTKU .MEMOlUAL, 

And while tlic world, too prone to worship mere 
intellect, laments that the orator and statesman is no 
more, w^e enter upon more sacred ground, and dwell 
upon the example and counsels of a Christian, as a 
hushand, father, and friend. I trust it will be no rude 
wounding of the spirit, no intrusion upon the privacy 
of domestic life, to allude to a few circumstances in 
the last scenes of the mortal existence of the great 
man who is gone, fitted to administer Christian con- 
solation, and to guide to a better acquaintance with 
that religion which is adapted both to temper our 
grief and establish our hope. 

Those who were present upon the morning of that 
Sabbath upon which this head of a family conducted 
the worship of his household, will never forget, as he 
read from our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, the em- 
phasis which he alone was capable of giving to that 
passage which speaks of the divine nature of forgive- 
ness. They saw beaming from that eye, now closed 
in death, the Spirit of Him who first uttered that 
ffodlike sentiment. 

And he who, by the direction of the dying man, 
upon a subsequent morning of the day of rest, read 
in their connection these words : '"' Lord, I believe ; 
help thou my unbelief;" and then the closing chap- 
ter of our Saviour's last words to his disciples, being 
particularly requested to dwell upon this clause of 
the verse — "Holy Father, keep through thine own 
name those whom thou hast given me, that they may 
be one as we are" — beheld a sublime illustration of 
the indwelling and abiding power of Christian faith. 

And if these tender remembrances only cause our 



THE FUx\ERAL. 209 

tears to flow more freely, it may not be improper for 
us to present the example of the father, when his 
great heart w^as rent by the loss of a daughter whom 
he most clearly loved. Those present on that occa- 
sion well remember when the struggle of mortal agony 
was over, retiring from the presence of the dead, bow- 
ing together before the presence of God, and joining 
with the afjQicted father as he poured forth his soul, 
pleading for grace and strength from on high. 

As upon the morning of his death we conversed 
upon the evident fact that, for the last few weeks, his 
mind had been engaged in preparation for an ex- 
change of worlds, one who knew him, well remarked, 
"His whole life has been that preparation." The 
people of this rural neighborhood, among whom he 
spent the last twenty years of his life, among whom 
he died, and with whom he is to rest, have been 
accustomed to regard him with mingled veneration 
and love. Those who knew him best, can the most 
truly appreciate the lessons both from his lips and ex- 
ample, teaching the sustaining power of the Gospel. 

His last words, "I still live," we may interpret in 
a higher sense than that in which they are usually 
regarded. He has taught us how to attain the life 
of faith and the life to come. 

Vividly impressed upon the memory of the speaker 
is the instruction once received as to the fitting way 
of presenting divine truth from the sacred desk. 
Would that its force might be felt by those who are 
called to minister in divine things. Said Mr. Web- 
ster, "When I attend upon the preaching of the Gos- 
pel, I wish to have it made a ijersonal matter, a per- 

27 



*210 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

soNAL MATTER, A PERSONAL MATTER." It is to 
present liiiii as enforcing these divine lessons of wis- 
dom and consolation, that we have recalled to your 
minds these precious recollections. 

And we need utter no apology. Indeed, we should 
be inexcusable in letting the present opportunity pass 
without unveiling the inner sanctuary of the life of 
the foremost man of all this world; for his most inti- 
mate friends are well aware that he had it in mind 
to prepare a work upon the internal evidences of 
Christianity, as a testimony of his heartfelt conviction 
of the "divine reality" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
But, finding himself rapidly approaching those august 
scenes of immortality into which he had so often 
looked, he dictated the most important part of his 
epitaph. And so long as "the rock shall guard his 
rest, and the ocean sound his dirge," the Avorld shall 
read upon his monument, not only 

One of the few, the immortal names, 
Which were not born to die ; 

but also that Daniel Webster lived and died in the 
Christian faith. The delineation which he gave of 
one of his early and noble compeers, could never have 
been written except from an experimental acquaint- 
ance with that which he holds up as the chief excel- 
lence of his friend. Tliis description we shall apply to 
himself, trusting that it will be as Mcll understood 
as admired. 

Political eminence and professional fame fade away 
and die with all things earthly. Nothing of character 
is really permanent but virtue and personal worth. 



THE FUNERAL. 211 

These remain. Whatever of excellence is wrouaht 
into the soul itself belongs to both worlds. Real 
goodness does not attach itself merely to this lifej it 
points to another AYorld. Political or professional re- 
putation cannot last forever; but a conscience void 
of offence before God and man is an inheritance for 
eternity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary and in- 
dispensable element in any great human character. 
There is no living without it. Religion is the tie 
that connects man with his Creator, and holds him 
to His throne. If that tie be all sundered, all broken, 
he floats away, a worthless atom in the universe ; its 
proper attractions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and 
its whole future nothing but darkness, desolation, and 
death. A man with no sense of religious duty is he 
whom the Scriptures describe in such terse but ter- 
rific language, as living without God in the world. 
Such a man is out of his proper being, out of the 
circle of all his duties, out of the circle of all his 
happiness, and away, far, far away from the purposes 
of his creation. 

A mind like Mr. Webster's, active, thoughtful, pene- 
trating, sedate, could not but meditate deeply on the 
condition of man below, and feel its responsibilities. 
He could not look on this mighty system. 

This universal frame, thus wondrous fair, 

without feeling that it was created and upheld by an 
Intelligence, to which all other intelligence must be re- 
sponsible. I am bound to say that in the course of my 
life I never met Avith an individual, in any profession 
or condition, who always spoke and always thought 



212 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

with such awful reverence of the power and presence 
of God. No irreverence, no lightness, even no too 
familiar allusion to God and his attributes ever escap- 
ed his lips. The very notion of a Supreme Being 
was, with him, made up of awe and solemnity. It 
filled the whole of his great mind with the strongest 
emotions. A man like him, with all his proper senti- 
ments and sensibilities alive in him, must, in this 
state of existence, have something to believe, and 
something to hope for; or else, as life is advancing 
to its close, all is heart-sinking and oppression. De- 
pend upon it, Avhatever may be the mind of an old 
man, old age is only really happy when, on feeling 
the enjoyments of this world pass away, it begins to 
lay a stronger hold on the realities of another. 

Mr. Webster's religious sentiments and feelings were 
the crowning glories of his character. 

The address was followed by a prayer. Tlie rooms, 
liall, and stairway, were filled by Mr. Webster's rela- 
tives and friends, while a vast mass of listeners stood 
on the piazza, and on the lawn; the position of the 
clergyman, near the hall door, enabling many to hear. 

During the exercises, unperceived by the group 
round the clergyman, arrangements were made for 
conveying the body to the tomb. The metallic case, 
in which it was deposited, was covered, and placed on 
a simple, low platform, drawn by one pair of black 
horses, whose harness was slightly dressed with crape. 
The coffin was covered with full black cloth, confined 
by several plated ornaments ; a wreath of oak leaves 
was at the head; another of fresh flowers at the foot. 



THE FUNERAL. 213 

After a few moments' pause, at the conclusion of 
the prayer, U\o or three gentlemen quietly and gra- 
dually opened a path through the dense mass of per- 
sons around the house. In solemn silence, six of Mr. 
Webster's neighbors, Asa Hewett, Seth Weston, Eleazer 
Harlow, J. P. Cushman, Tilden Ames, Daniel Phillips, 
took their places on either side of his bier. His son, 
grandson, relatives, domestics, and the persons haying 
the charge and management of his estates, stood next. 
Among the domestics were several colored persons, 
who had been long in Mr. Webster's service, and were 
deeply attached to him. One of them had been re- 
cently emancipated by him. The Governor of the 
Commonwealth, the Council and State Officers, the 
Mayor of Boston and City Government, distinguished 
citizens of Massachusetts, and many from the other 
New England States, and delegations from other States 
and cities, with hundreds of personal, devoted friends 
of Mr. Webster, quietly passed into the long sad pro- 
cession ; truly a sad procession ; for the multitudes 
that lined the path for nearly the whole distance to 
the tomb, were moved by the same grief that rested 
on the hearts of the mourners. 

The morning had been uncommonl}^ beautiful. The 
air was soft and warm, and the light so rich and 
golden, that the slight shade still found under some 
few trees, had been grateful. Just as the procession 
began to move, a chill breeze came up from the ocean, 
and threw^ a veil of mist over the sky. 

When the funeral train, all on foot, unheralded by 
official pomp, military display, or even the strains of 
mournino- music, had reached the modest tomb, the 



21-4 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

liouored form was rested at the entrance. It was once 
more uncovered that relatives and friends might again 
and for the last time, look upon that majestic counte- 
nance ; a fervent prayer was again offered ; and then, 
slowly and sadly, friend and stranger passed away, and 
left the illustrious sleeper with those whom he had so 
tenderly loved in life, and with whom death had now 
reunited him. 

The tomb, with its group of unpretending monu- 
ments, is on a gentle eminence, about a mile from 
the mansion-house, and adjoining the ancient village 
burying-ground, where rests the dust of some of the 
early Pilgrim Fathers. Mr. Webster had himself 
superintended the preparation of the tomb, and the 
erection of the monuments to the wife and children 
he had lost, directing that the one erected to himself 
should be of the same style and proportions. Over 
the door of the tomb is cut merely, '' Daniel Web- 
ster." On the three monuments within the inclosure, 
are the following inscriptions: 

Gkace Fletcher, 
Wife of Daniel Webster, 
Born January 16, 1781, 
Died January 21, 1828. 
Blessed arc the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 



Julia AVebster, 

wife of 

Samuel Appleton Appleton ; 

Born January 16, 18 18, 

Died April 28, 1848, 

Let me go, for tlie day breaketh. 



Mary Constance Appleton, 

Born Feb. 7, 1848. 

Died March la, 1849. 



THE FUNERAL. 215 

]Major Edward Webster, 

Born July 20, 1820. 

Died at San Angel, in Mexico, 

In the military service 

of his country, 

Jan. 23, 1848. 

A dearly beloved son and brother. 

As the multitude turned from the hallowed spot, 
many gathered flowers, leaves, or eA'en blades of grass, 
to be treasured as memorials of a day, unequalled in 
solemn pathos, within their experience. The effect 
upon the minds of all present, can noA^er be described. 

All things were in harmony, — the beauty of the 
day, the falling leaves, the countenances of the assem- 
bled multitude, the aj)propriate arrangements, the as- 
pect of the autumnal landscape, — all aided in pro- 
ducing an elevated and tender mood of feeling. It 
was one of those rare occasions in wliich a brief space 
of time is sufficient to leave impressions, which all the 
experiences of future life will not be able to efface. 



PROCESSION AND SERVICES 



ON THE 



THIRTIETH OF NOVEMBER. 



28 



PROCESSION AND SERVICES ON THE 
THIRTIETH OF NOVEMBER. 



Tuesday, November 3 0th, was the day devoted hj 
the City Authorities of Boston, to a public expression 
of respect for the memory of Mr. Webster. The day 
was highly favorable, the weather being mild, and the 
air clear. The common business of the city, was sus- 
pended, and the streets were filled with a concourse 
of spectators, whose manner and appearance showed 
their sense of the great loss they had sustained. 

The New Hampshire Legislature had voted to at- 
tend the obsequies ; and, at an early hour in the morn- 
ing, the Executive Committee of the Sons of New 
Hampshire, and other natives of the State, assembled 
at the Depot of the Lowell Railroad, in order to re- 
ceive them. 

The Concord train came in at a quarter after nine 
o'clock, with about two hundred and fifty members of 
the Council, Senate, and House of Representatives. 
Hon. John S. Wells, President of the New Hampshire 
Senate, Governor Martin being detained by indisposi- 
tion, was introduced to Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, Pre- 



220 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

sident of the Executive Committee of the Sons of New 
llampshh'e, in Boston, by Mr. Wiggiu, of Dover, of the 
Committee of Arrangements. After the introduction, 
Colonel Wilder addressed Mr. Wells, as the represent- 
ative of liis State, as follows : 

Mr. President of the Senate, and Gentlemen — In 
hehalf of the Sons of New Hampshire, resident in 
Boston and vicinity, I bid you welcome to this city, 
and to the State of our adoption. 

The afflictive dispensation of Providence which has 
assembled us together this morning, and the objects 
of our meeting are so well known by all, as to need 
only a brief explanation from me. 

A mighty one has fallen ! Our elder brother. New 
Hampshire's favorite son, is no more ! All that was 
mortal of Daniel Webster, the great American Ex- 
pounder of Constitutional authority and National rights, 
has been consigned to the bosom of his mother earth. 

The loss to us, to the country, and the world, is 
irreparable. The whole nation mourns. Our city is 
hung in the drapery of woe, "and the mourners go 
about the streets." 

New Hampshire claims the honor of j\Ir. Webster's 
biiih 5 and among the millions who are afflicted in the 
general bereavement, none, I am sure, are more sin- 
cere mourners, than her sons. As brethren of the 
same family, we receive you with true fraternal affec- 
tion; and we unite our sympathy and mingle our 
tears with yours. 

But in this hour of our trial and sorrow, let us not 
forget that our loss is his unspeakable gain. Although 



PROCESSION AND SERVICES. 221 

we now mourn, let us thank God that he was spared 
to us so long, that he was enabled to accomplish so 
much for us, and for the cause of universal freedom 
and humanity, and that his sun was permitted to go 
down unclouded, and shining in the greatness of its 
strength. 

Gentlemen, it is not my province to pronounce his 
eulogy ; that duty will be performed by abler men, 
and more gifted lips. 

Daniel Webster is dead! We shall see that majes- 
tic form no more ! But his fame is immortal ! It is 
registered on the hearts of his grateful countrymen. 
Yes, and it shall be transmitted unsullied and un- 
tarnished through all coming ages ; and when the 
monumental marble shall have crumbled into dust, it 
shall " still live ! " It shall live forever ! 

To w^hich, Hon. John S. Wells replied, in behalf of 
the New Hampshire Delegation : 

Mr. President and Gentlemen, " Sons of New Hamp- 
shire " — The representatives of the people of New 
Hampshire have postponed, for this day, their official 
duties, that they may join the citizens of Massachu- 
setts in doino' honor to the memory of him, whose 
birthplace, like yours, was surrounded by the wild 
scenery of our mountains, but whose fame is limited 
only by the bleak regions of ignorance and barbarism. 
We thank you, gentlemen, for your kind civilities to 
us on this occasion, and trust that the impressions of 
this day may induce in us a warmer love for our 
native State, and a more ardent desire for the preser- 
vation of our common country 



222 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

The bodies then formed in procession^ under direc- 
tion of Mr. Cheney, Chief Marshal of the " Sons/' and 
proceeded to the State House, where the guests from 
New Hampshire were introduced to" Governor Bout- 
well and the Executive Council, by Mr. Wilder, and 
the Governor made the following address : 

]\Ir. President, and Gentlemen of the Executive and 
Legislative Departments of New Hampshire — Occa- 
sions of mourning come to communities and nations 
as they do to individuals and families of the human 
race. This is an unusual assemblage. Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire have together passed through 
scenes of trial and suffering, and together have en- 
joyed the nation's triumphs and participated in the 
nation's prosperity. But now, in the general bereave- 
ment, they are peculiarly afflicted. New Hampshire 
has had no such other son; Massachusetts has had no 
such other citizen as Daniel Webster. Amid the so- 
lemnities of death, the differences of life shall be for- 
gotten, and from the common grief shall spring senti- 
ments of patriotism and religion, whose influence shall 
be felt in coming centuries of our country's existence. 
Gentlemen, we accept your presence as an elevated 
token of respect for the illustrious dead, and as an 
assurance tliat, with the other States of this confede- 
racy, our principles, our hopes, our destiny, are one. 

President Wells responded as follows: 
Sir — In the absence of his Excellency, Governor 
Martin, who is prevented by illness from joining us 
on this occasion, allow me to say, that the several 



PROCESSION AND SERVICES. 223 

branches of the Legislature of New Hampshire have 
met your Excellency and the citizens of Massachusetts 
here to-day, to join in the ceremonies to be observed 
by you, in honor of the memory of the late Daniel 
Webster. 

The sable drapery of the legislative halls, from which 
we this morning departed, exhibits the outward signs 
of that sadness which pervades not only the hearts 
of the members of the New Hampshire Legislature, 
but of the sons of New Hampshire everywhere, on 
account of this national bereavement. They, with you, 
lament the fall of the illustrious Webster. His fame 
belongs to the nation. His birthplace was amid our 
mountains; he was trained in the rigid discipline of 
New Hampshire schools; and went forth from liis na- 
tive State majestic in person and mind, towering above 
all competition, even as our famed Mount Washington 
towers above all surrounding objects, and fell not till 
his splendid mind was recognized as one of the bright- 
est, loftiest intellects of earth. And we have come 
here to-day to give force, if possible, to the hand 
which shall inscribe on the brazen tablets the record 
of his mental greatness. 

Though a large majority of this body disagreed 
with him in the leading political doctrines of his life, 
yet, as an orator, a scholar, and a jurist, they have ever 
referred to him with pride and satisfaction; and when 
the black cloud of disunion was seen in the distance, 
and angry, convulsive feelings were aroused through- 
out our land, they gladly listened to the voice of 
Webster as it rang clear and powerful above the ex- 
cited elements, urging his countrymen to the patriotic 



224 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

duty of standing by the Union and the Constitution. 
Then it was, sir, that the mass of New Hampshire 
hearts were turned warmly towards him. That act of 
patriotic devotion to his country swept into forgetful- 
ness years of political hostility. And when it was 
told us that his great light was sinking beneath the 
horizon of life, the freemen of New Hampshire mingled 
their thankfulness of heart with their patriotic coun- 
trymen, that he could depart with the assurance that 
he left but few "seeking to look beyond the Union, 
to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess be- 
hind." 

They sincerely rejoiced that when, for the "last 
time, he turned his eyes to behold the sun in heaven, 
he did not see it shining on the broken and disho- 
nored fragments of a once glorious Union." But that 
his "last and lingering glance did behold the gor- 
geous ensign of the Republic, now known and honor- 
ed throughout the earth, not a stripe erased or pol- 
luted, not a single star obscured, bearing not for its 
motto the miserable interrogatory, What is all this tvorth ? 
but that other sentiment, dear to every true American 
heart. Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and 
inseparable." 

The two bodies then separated to join in the pre 
cession. 

The different civic bodies which turned out, assem- 
bled in duo season at the several points assigned to 
them, and at half-past eleven o'clock the procession 
was brought into line, and soon after put in motion, 
from the City Hall, marching up Tromont street in 
the folio wi no; order: 



PROCESSION AND SERVICES. 225 

Military Escort, under command of 

Brigadier-General Samuel Andrews. 

SulTolk Brass Band. 

Battalion of Cavalry, under command of Major J. T. Pierce. 

National Lancers Capt. Jepson. 

Light Dragoons Capt. Wright. 

Salem Brass Band. 
Artillery llegimcnt, (with mounted field-pieces), under command of Col. 

Cowdin. 

Washington Artillery Capt. BuUock. 

Boston Artillery. Capt. Evans. 

Cowdin Phalanx Capt. WardweU. 

Roxbury Artillery Capt. Webber. 

Columbian Artillerj- Lieut. Doherty. 

Gloucester Artilleiy Capt. Cook. 

Lynn Artillery Capt. Herbert. 

Brigade Band. 
Regiment of Light Lifantry, under command of Col. Holbrook. 

Pulaski Guards Capt. Wright. 

City Guards Capt. French. 

New England Guards Capt. Henshaw. 

Boston Light Guard Lieut. Coverly. 

Independent EusUeers Capt. Mitchell. 

National Guard Lieut. Walker. 

Washington Light Guard Capt. Elagg. 

Boston Light Infantry Capt. Ashley. 

Col. Green and Staff. 

Cambridge City Guards Capt. Meecham. 

Richardson Guards Lieut. Dearborn. 

Stoneham Light Guard Capt. Dyke. 

Winchester Light Guards Capt. Prince. 

Mechanic Riflemen Capt. Adams. 

Veteran Association Capt. Calfe. 

Then came Gen. John S. Tyler, Chief Marshal of the 
day, and his Aids, followed by some forty carriages, 
containing the Municipal Authorities and many distin- 
guished citizens, the Mayor and City Council of Rox- 
bury, the Postmaster, Collector of the Port and Naval 

29 



226 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

Officer of Boston, the Judges of tlie United States and 
State Courts, Foreign Consuls, and officers of the Uni- 
ted States Navy. 

Next came the Independent Cadets, under command 
of Colonel T. C. Amory, accompanied by the Winches- 
ter Brass Band, as a guard of honor to his Excellency 
the Governor and the Executive Council ; followed by 
the Boston School Committee, the Sergeant-at-Arms, 
Senators and Representatives of Massachusetts, and 
the Webster Executive Committee. 

The third division was headed by the Newton Brass 
Band, and contained the members of the New Hamp- 
shire Legislature, the City Government of Charlestown, 
and a delegation from Springfield. 

The fourtli division was headed by the Lowell Brass 
Band, and contained the " Sons of New Hampshire," 
" Massachusetts Society of Cincinnati," (in carriages,) 
the " Cape Cod Association," with the Braintree Brass 
Band, the " Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Asso- 
ciation," and the " Mercantile Library Association," 
with the American Brass Band. The banner of the 
Sons of New Hampshire was of white satin, fringed 
with black, and contained on the front a striking like- 
ness of Daniel Webster, over which was the motto, 
" I Still Live," and below it were the words, " I speak 
to-day for the preservation of the Union." On one 
side of the portrait, a figure of the Goddess of Lib- 
erty held a green wreath over the head of Webster; 
on the other was the national eagle, scroll, and motto. 
Below was the coat-of-arms of the State of New Hamp- 
shire, and the national shield, and at the botton was 
printed, " Sons of New Hampshire." On the reverse 



PROCESSION AND SERVICES. 227 

was, "One Country, one Constitution, one Destiny." 
"The ends I shall aim at, shall he my Country's, my 
God's, and Truth's." 

The fifth division contained the " Scots' Charitable 
Society," and was headed by the Roxbury Brass Band, 
and a Highland piper. On one banner of this Society 
was inscribed, 

Wide o'er the naked world declare 
The worth we've lost. 

'• Boston Irish Protestant Mutual Relief Society," with 
a banner bearing the words — " The Immortal Web- 
ster ; " on the reverse, " The Immortal Wellington." 
The "French Mutual Relief Society," with a banner 
inscribed " Daniel Webster, fut un gi-and homine : Fran- 
9ais, honorons sa memoire," on the reverse, " Daniel 
AVebster — Thy name will ever be dear to our me- 
mory." The "United Shamrock Society" was accom- 
panied by the East Boston Brass Band, and the 
"Boston Roman Catholic Mutual Relief Society" fol- 
lowed. 

The sixth division was headed by the Boston Brass 
Band, and contained citizens of Charlestown, three 
out-of-town Fire Companies, the "Bunker Hill Boys," 
and the " Sons of Maine," in strong force. 

The seventh division was headed by the Dedham 
Brass Band, and contained the " Mechanic Apprentices' 
Library Association," the " Boston Boys' Webster Club," 
with a banner inscribed, "A nation's gratitude — the 
choicest gift of a people," and on the reverse, " I still 
live" — "Webster for the Union." The " Jamaica Plain 
Boys " bore a banner inscribed " Vivat Vivetque," 

The eighth division was headed by the Easton Brass 
Band, and contained various Associations. The Caval- 



228 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

cade composed the iiiiitli division, embracing horsemen 
from various adjacent towns and cities. 

The solemn train passed through Tremont, Boylston, 
Pleasant, Washington, and Oak streets, Harrison Ave- 
nue to Beach, Lincoln, Summer, Winter, Park, Beacon, 
Joy, Mount Vernon, Hancock, Cambridge, Court, and 
Sudbury streets, across Haymarket Square to Black- 
stone, Hanover, Court, and State to Commercial and 
South Market streets to Faneuil Hall, where it arrived 
about two o'clock. 

The procession consumed rather more than an hour 
in passing each point on the route. The number of 
persons in the column — exclusive of the military, 
cavalcade, and those in carriages, — by actual count 
amounted to more than two thousand. The number 
in the cavalcade was about four hundred, and in car- 
riages between two and three hundred. Including the 
military, therefore, the whole procession probably num- 
bered not far from four thousand. It proceeded gene- 
rally in good order and wdthout confusion, and its 
quiet passage was observed by the spectators in so- 
lemn silence. 

The buildings on the route of the procession were 
very generally decorated with the symbols of mourn- 
ing. Black and white drapery was used with good 
effect, and, in many places, busts and portraits of Mr. 
Webster were displayed. 

The appearance of Faneuil Hall was highly solemn 
and impressive. Heavy folds of woollen cloth covered 
the ceiling, fastened in the centre by a silver star. 
The pillars were wholly cased in the same material, 
which also passed along the front of the encircling 
gallery. To this covering of the balustrade of the 



PKOCESSIOxN AND SERVICES. 220 

Uiilleiy was attached another mass of bhick cloth, bear- 
iu'j:, ill hirge gilded letters, the following inscriptions, 
Ijeing sentences from Mr. Webster's Works. In front 
of the north gallery were the words, " Our Country, 
OUR WHOLE Country, and nothing but our Country." In 
front of the eastern g.'dlery, the words — "Liberty and 
Union, now and forever, one and inseparable," were 
inscribed ; and in front of the south gallery the w^ords 
— '• We turn to his transcendent najnie for courage 
AND consolation." The clock was wholly covered, and 
the folds of the drapery, hanging from the back of 
the eagle, were so arranged as to form a niche, where 
a bust of Mr. Webster, by Mr. Ball, was placed. 

Xo pictures were visible but the large one, by Mr. 
Ilealey, representing Mr. Webster in the Senate, re- 
plying to Mr. Ilayne, which hangs at the end of the 
hall, and the portraits of Washington and Faneuil. The 
frames were entirely concealed by black cloth. Mr. 
Ilealey's picture was illuminated by lights from below, 
so arranged as to throw their full force upon the 
figure of Mv. Webster, producing a striking and beau- 
tiful effect. Under this picture, the words "We claim 
HDi FOR America" were inscribed in gilt letters. Upon 
the rostrum, which was raised and extended for the 
occasion, was placed a marble bust of Mr. Webster by 
Mr. King. It stood upon a pedestal about five feet 
high, and excited general admiration. On each side 
of the platform were displayed small American flags, 
craped. 

Daylight was entirely excluded ; and a row of gas- 
burners along the front of the galleries, two on the 
platform, and two large candelabra of candles also on 



230 WEBSTER MEMOKIAL. 

the platform, supplied its place with a calm, subdued, 
yet unnatural light, which deepened the solemn effect 
of the whole scene.. The spirit of silence and rever- 
ence pervaded the Hall, so that, at noon, when ladies 
were admitted, the side galleries devoted to them were 
filled, with little sound. Soon after, the musicians and 
singers took their places in the east gallery, adding 
to the picturesqueness and peculiarity of the scene, by 
moving about with lighted candles, wliich brought out 
some objects and made shadows deeper. 

At a little before two, the music of the escort was 
heard approaching, and the jNIarshals, having charge of 
the Hall, ranged themselves at the door. The band of 
the Germanians breathed forth Handel's solemn march 
in Saul; and slowly, as if entering a mausoleum, the 
first division of the procession came in. Gradually, 
noiselessly, the numbers increased, — so gradually, that 
groups stood separately a moment or two gazing round 
at the unaccustomed sight, — the funeral hangings, 
the dim galleries, closely filled with undistinguishable 
figures, the circle of lights, and that majestic form 
which, from the canvas even, seemed ready to speak in 
words of wisdom and power. Slowly and reverently 
the multitude increased. The rapid rush, the noisy 
step, the loud exclamation, so fixmiliar on that floor, 
were wholly absent. The entire space w^as soon filled, 
and a motionless sea of heads was turned to the 
platfcirm. while a prayer was oft'ered by the Rev. 
Dr. Lotln-op. The Handel and Haydn Society then 
chanted one of llanders anthems. At its conclusion, 
the eulogy was pronounced by Mr. Ilillard ; and, 
after a benediction, the audience dispersed. 



MR. HILLAPvD'S EULOGY. 



CITY OF BOSTON. 

In Common Council, Dec. 2, 18.'32. 

Ordered, That the thanks of the City Council be presented to the Hon. George 
S. HiLL.VED, for the eloquent, impressive, and instructive Eulogy on the Life 
and Services of the Honorable Daniel Webster, late Secretary of State of the 
United States, which was delivered in Fancuil Hall before the Government and 
citizens of Boston, on the 30tli ultimo ; and that he be requested to furnish a 
copy for publication. 

Sent up for concurrence. 

Henry J. Gardner, President. 

In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Dec. 4, 1852. 

Passed in concurrence. 

Benjamin Seaver, Mayor. 
A true cop3'. Attest. 

Sasiukl F. McCleary, Jr., C% Cleric. 



EULOGY. 



It is now twenty-six years since the heart of the 
nation was so deeply moved by the death of two great 
founders of the Republic, on the fiftieth anniversary 
of the day when its independence was declared. Then, 
for the first time, these consecrated walls wore the 
weeds of mourning. Then the multitude that filled 
this hall were addressed by a man, whose thoughts 
rose without effort to the height of his great theme. 
He seemed inspired by the occasion, and he looked 
and spoke like one on whom the mantle of some as- 
cended prophet had at that moment fallen. He lifted 
up and bore aloft his audience on the wings of his 
mighty eloquence. His words fell upon his hearers with 
iiTesistible, subduing power, and their hearts poured 
themselves forth in one deep and strong tide of 
patriotic and reverential feeling. 

And now he, that was then so full of life and power, 
has gone to join the patriots whom he commemo- 
rated. "Webster is no more than Adams and Jefferson. 
The people, that then came to listen to him, are now 

30 



234 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

here to mourn for liiin. His voice of wisdom and elo- 
quence is silent. The arm on which a nation leaned is 
stark and cold. That heroic form is given back to the 
dust. We, that delighted to honor him in life, are 
now here to honor him in death. One circle of duties 
is ended and another is begun. We can no longer 
give him our confidence, our support, our suffrages ; 
but memory and gratitude are still left to us. As he 
has not lived for himself alone, so he has not died for 
himself alone. The services of his life are crowned 
and sealed with the benediction of his death. So long 
as a man remains upon earth, his life is a fragment. 
It is exposed to chance and change, to the shocks of 
fate and the assaults of trial. But the end crowns 
the work. A career that is closed becomes a firm 
possession and a completed power. The arch is im- 
perfect till tlie hand of death has fixed the keystone. 
The custom of honoring great public benefactors by 
these solemn observances is natural, just, and wise. 
But the tributes and testimonials which we offer to 
departed worth, are for the living, and not for the 
dead. Eulogies, monuments, and statues can add no- 
thing to the peace and joy of that serene sphere, into 
which the great and good, who have finished their 
earthly career, have passed. But these expressions and 
memorials do good to those from whom they flow. 
Tliey lift us above the region of low cares and selfish 
struggles. They link the present to the past, and the 
world of sense to llio Avorld of thought. They break 
the common course ui" life with feelino-s brouo;ht from 
a higher region. Who can measure the effect of a 
scene like this, — these mourning walls, these sad- 



EULOGY. 235 

denecl faces, those solemn strains of music ? The seed 
of a deep emotion here planted, may ripen into the 
fruit of noble action. 

A great man is a gift, in some measure, a revela- 
tion of God. A great man, living for high ends, is 
the divinest thing that can be seen on earth. The 
value and interest of history are derived chiefly from 
the lives and services of the eminent men whom it 
commemorates. Indeed, without these, there would be 
no such thing as history, and the progress of a nation 
would be as little worth recording, as the march of a 
trading caravan across a desert. The death of Mr. 
Webster is too recent, and he was taken away too 
suddenly from a sphere of wide and great influence, 
for the calm verdict of history to be passed upon him, 
and an accurate gauge to be taken of his works and 
his claims. But all men, whatever may have been the 
countenance they turned towards him in life, now feel 
that he was a man of the highest order of greatness, 
and that whatever of power, faculty, and knowledge 
there was in him, was given freely, heartily, and faith- 
fully, during a long course of years, to the service of 
his country. lie, who in the judgment of all, was a 
great man and a^ great patriot, not only deserves these 
honors at our hands, but it would be disgraceful in us 
to withhold them. We, among whom he lived, who 
felt the power of his magnificent presence, — his brow, 
his eye, his A^oice, liis bearing, — can never put him 
anywhere but in the front rank of the great men of 
all time. In running along the line of statesmen and 
orators, we light upon the name of no one to whom 
we are willing to admit his inferiority. 



236 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

The (heoiy that a great man is merely the product 
of his age, is rejected by the common sense and com- 
mon observation of mankind. The power that guides 
large masses of men, and shapes the channels in which 
the energies of a great people flow, is something more 
than a mere aggregate of derivative forces. It is a 
compound product, in which the genius of the man is 
one element, and the sphere opened to him by the 
character of liis age and the institutions of his coun- 
try, is another. In the case of Mr. Webster, we have 
a full cooperation of these two elements. Not only 
did he find opportunities for his great powers, but the 
events of his life, and the discipline through which he 
passed, were well fitted to train him up to that com- 
manding intellectual stature, and perfect intellectual 
symmetry, which have made him so admirable, so emi- 
nent, and so useful a person. 

He Avas fortunate in the accident;, or rather the 
providence, of his birth. His father w^as a man of 
uncommon strength of mind and w^orth of character, 
who had served his country faithfully in trying times, 
and earned, in a high degree, the respect and confi- 
dence of his neighbors — a man of a large and loving 
heart, whose efibrts and sacrifices for his children were 
repaid by them with most affectionate veneration. 
The energy and good sense of his mother exerted a 
strong infiucnce upon the minds and characters of 
her cliildren. He was born to the discipline of po- 
verty; but a poverty such as braces and stimulates, 
not such as crushes and paralyzes. The region in 
which his boyhood was passed was new and wild, 
books were not easy to be had, schools were only an 



EULOGY. 237 

occasional privilege, and intercourse with the more 
settled parts of the country was difficult and rare. 
But this scarcity of mental food and mental excite- 
ment had its advantages, and his training was good, 
however imperfect his teaching might have been. His 
labors upon the farm helped to form that vigorous 
constitution wliioh enabled him to sustain the im- 
mense pressure of cares and duties laid upon him in 
after years. Such books as he could procure were 
read with the whole heart and the whole mind. The 
conversation of a household, presided over by a strong- 
minded father, and a sensible, loving mother, helped 
to train the faculties of the younger members of the 
family. Nor were their winter evenings wanting in 
topics which had a fresher interest than any which 
books could furnish. There were stirring tales of the 
revolutionary struggle, and the old French war, in 
both of which his father had taken a part, with mov- 
ing traditions of the hardships and perils of border 
life, and harrowing narratives of Indian captivity, all 
of which sunk deep into the heart of the impressible 
bo}^ The ample page of nature was ever before his 
eyes, not beautiful or picturesque, but stern, wild, 
and solitary, covered with a primeval forest, in winter, 
swept over by tremendous storms, but in summer, 
putting on a short-lived grace, and in autumn, glow- 
ing with an imperial pomp of coloring. In the deep, 
lonely woods, by the rushing streams, under the frosty 
stars of winter, the musing boy gathered food for his 
growing mind. There, to him, the mighty mother un- 
veiled her awful face, and there, we may be sure, that 
the dauntless child stretched forth his hands and smiled. 



238 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

We feel a pensive pleasure in calling up the image 
of this slender, dark-hrowed, hright-eyed youth, going 
forth in the mornino- of life to sow the seed of future 
years. A loving brother, and a loving and dutiful 
son, he is cheerful under privation, and patient under 
restraint. Whatever v^-ork he finds to do, whether 
with the brain or the hand, he does it with all his 
miglit. He opens his mind to every ray of know- 
ledge that breaks in upon him. Every step is a pro- 
gress, and every blow removes an obstacle. Onward, 
ever onward, he moves ; borne " against the wind, 
against the tide," by an impulse self-derived and self- 
sustained. He makes friends, awakens interest, in- 
spires hopes. Thus, with these good angels about 
liim, he passes from boyhood to youth, and from youth 
to early manhood. The school and the college have 
given him what they had to give ; an excellent pro- 
fessional training has been secured ; and now, with a 
vigorous frame, and a spirit patient of labor, with 
manly self-reliance, and a heart glowing with gene- 
rous ambition and warm affections, the man, Daniel 
Webster, steps forth into the arena of life. 

From tliis point his progress follows a natural law 
of growth, and every advance is justified and explain- 
ed bv what ]iad o-one before. For everv thins; that 
he gains he has a perfect title to show. He is borne 
on by no fortunate accidents. The increase of his in- 
fluence keeps no more than pace with the growth of 
his mind, and the development of his character. He 
is diligent in his calling, and faithful to the interests 
intrusted to his charge. His professional bearing is 
manlv and elevated. He has the confidence of the 



EULOGY. 239 

court, and the ear of the jury, and has fairly earned 
them both. His business increases, his reputation is 
extended, and he becomes a marked man. He is not 
only equal to every occasion, but he always leaves the 
impression of having power in reserve, and of being- 
capable of still greater efforts. What he does is ju- 
dicious, and what he says is wise. He is not obliged 
to retrace his steps or qualify his statements. He 
blends the dignity and self-command of mature life 
with the ardor and energy of youth. To such a man, 
in our country, public life becomes a sort of neces- 
sitv. A brief service in Congress wins for him the 
respect and admiration of the leading men of the 
whole Union, Avho see, with astonishment, in a young 
New Hampshire lawyer, the large views of a ripe 
statesman, and a generous and comprehensive tone of 
discussion, free alike from party bias and sectional 
narrowness. A removal to the metropolis of New 
England brings increase of professional opportunity, 
and in a few years he stands at the head of the Bar 
of the whole country. Public life is again thrust upon 
him, and, at one stride, he moves to the foremost rank 
of influence and consideration. His prodigious powers 
of argument and eloquence, freely given to an admi- 
nistration opposed to him in politics, crush a dan- 
gerous political heresy, and kindle a deeper national 
sentiment. The whole land rings with his name and 
praise, and foreign nations take up and prolong the 
sound. Every year brings higher trusts, weightier re- 
sponsibilities, wider influence, until his country reposes 
in the shadow of his wisdom, and the power that pro- 
ceeds from his mind and character becomes one of 



240 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

the controlling forces in tlie moveuients and relations 
of the civilized world. 

To trace, step by step, the incidents of such a 
career, wonld far transcend the limits of a discourse 
like this, and of all places, it is least needed here. 
Judging of him by what he was, as well as by what 
he did, and analyzing the aggregate of his powers, 
we observe that his life moves in three distinct paths 
of greatness. lie was a great lawyer, a great states- 
man, and a great writer. The gifts and training, 
which make a man eminent in any one of these de- 
partments, are by no means identical with those which 
make him eminent in any other. Very few have at- 
tained high rank in any two ; and the distinction 
wliich Mr. Webster reached in all the three is almost 
without a parallel in history. 

He was, from the beginning, more or less occupied 
with public afiliirs, and he continued to the last to 
be a practising lawyer ; but, as regards these two 
spheres of action, his life may be divided into two 
distinct portions. From his tAventy-third to his forty- 
first year, the practice of the law was his primary 
occupation and interest, but from the latter period 
to his death, it was secondary to his labors as a legis- 
lator and statesman. Of his eminence in the law — 
meaning the law as administered in the ordinary tri- 
bunals of the country, without reference, for the pre- 
sent, to constitutional questions — there is but one 
opinion among competent judges. Some may have 
excelled him in a single faculty or accomplishment, 
but in the combination of qualities which the law 
requires, no man of his time was on the whole equal 



EULOGY. 241 

to him. He was a safe counsellor and a powerful 
advocate ; thorough in the preparation of causes and 
judicious in the management of them ; quick, far- 
seeing, cautious, and bold. His addresses to the jury 
were simple, manly, and direct ; presenting the strong 
points of the case in a strong way, appealing to 
the reason and the conscience, and not to passions 
and prejudices ; and never weakened by over-state- 
ment, lie laid his own mind fairly along-side that 
of the jury, and won their confidence by his sincere 
wav of dealino- with them. He had the wisdom to cease 
speaking when he had come to an end. His most 
conspicuous power Avas his clearness of statement. He 
threw upon every subject a light like that of the sun 
at noonday. His mind, by an unerring instinct, sepa- 
rated the important from the unimportant facts in a 
complicated case, and so presented the former, that he 
was really making a powerful and persuasive argu- 
ment, when he seemed to be only telling a plain 
story in a plain way. The transparency of the stream 
veiled its depth ; and its depth concealed its rapid 
How. His legal learning w^as accurate and perfectly 
at command, and he had made himself master of some 
difficult branches of law, such as special pleading and 
the law of real property, but the memory of some of 
his contemporaries was more richly stored with cases. 
From his remarkable powers of generalization, his ele- 
mentary reading had filled his iu4»dmwith principles, 
and he examined the questions that arol^, by the 
light of these principles, and then sought in the books 
for cases to confirm the views which he had reached 
by reflection. He never resorted to stratagems and 

31 



242 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

surprises, nor did he let his zeal for his client run 
away with his self-respect. His judgment was so 
clear, and his moral sense so strong, that he never 
could help discriminating between a good cause and 
a bad one ; nor betraying to a close observer when 
he was arguing against what was his own judgment 
of his case. His manner was admirable, especially for 
its repose, an eifective quality in an advocate, from 
the consciousness of strength which it implies. The 
uniform respect with which he treated the bench 
should not be omitted, in summing up his merits 
as a lawyer. 

/The exclusive practice of the law is not held to be 
the best preparation for public life. Not only does 
it invigorate without expanding — not only does it 
narrow at the same time that it sharpens — but the 
custom of addressing juries begets a habit of over- 
statement, which is a great defect in a public speaker, 
and the mind, that is constantly occupied in looking 
at one side of a disputed question, is apt to forget 
that it has two. Great minds triumph over these 
influences, but it is because they never fail, sooner 
or later, to overleap the formal, barriers of the law. 
Had Mr. Webster been born in England, and edu- 
cated to the bar, his powers could never have been 
confined to Westminster Hall. He would have been 
taken up and borne into Parliament by an irresistible 
tide of public opinion. Born where he was, it would 
have been the greatest of misfortunes, if he had nar- 
rowed his mind and given up to his clients the 
genius that was meant for the whole country and all 
time. Admirably as he put a case to the jury, or 



EULOGY. 243 

avgiicd it to the court, it was impossible not to feel 
that ill many instances an inferior person would have 
(lone it nearly or quite as well ; and sometimes the 
disproportion between the man and the work was so 
^reat, that it reminded one of the task given to 
^lichael Angelo, to make a statue of snow. 

llis advancing reputation, however, soon led him 
into a class of cases, the peculiar growth of the insti- 
tutions of his country, and admirably fitted to train a 
lawyer for public life, because, though legal in their 
form, they involve great questions of politics and go- 
vernment. The system under which we live is, in 
many respects, without a precedent. Singularly com- 
plicated in its arrangements, embracing a general go- 
vernment of limited and delegated powers, organized 
by an interfusion of separate sovereignties, all with 
written constitutions to be interpreted and reconciled, 
the imperfection of human language and the strength 
of luiman passion, leaving a wide margin for warring 
opinions, it is obvious to any person of political ex- 
perience, that many grave questions, both of construc- 
tion and conflicting jurisdiction, must arise, requiring 
wisdom and authority for their adjustment. Especially 
must this be the case in a country like ours, of such 
great extent, with such immense material resources, 
and inhabited by so enterprising and energetic a peo- 
ple. It was a fortunate, may we not say a providen- 
tial circumstance, that the growth of the country 
begun to devolve upon the Supreme Court of the 
United States the consideration of this class of ques- 
tions, just at the time when Mr. Webster, in liis ripe 
manhood, was able to give them the benefit of his 



24-4 UEDSTEU ME.MOIUAL. 

extraordinan- powers of argument and analysis. Pre- 
vious to the Dartmoutli College case, in 1818, not 
many important constitutional questions had come be- 
fore the court, and, since that time, the great lawyer, 
who then broke upon them with so astonishing a blaze 
of learning and logic, has exerted a commanding in- 
lluence in shaping that system of constitutional law — 
jilmost a supplementary Constitution — which has con- 
tributed so much to our happiness and prosperity. 
Great as is our debt of gratitude to such judges as 
Marshall and Story, it is hardly less great to such a 
lawyer as ]Mr. Webster. None would have been more 
ready than these eminent magistrates, to acknowledge 
the assistance they had derived from his masterly ar- 
guments. 

In the discussion of constitutional questions, the 
mind of this great man found a most congenial em- 
ployment. Here, books, cases, and precedents are of 
comparatively little value. We must ascend to first 
principles, and be guided by the light of pure reason. 
Not only is a chain of logical deduction to be fashion- 
ed, Ijut its links must first be forged. Geometry 
itself hardly leads the mind into a region of more ab- 
stract and essential truth. In these calm heights of 
speculation and analysis, the genius of Mr. Webster 
moved witli natural and majestic sweep. Breaking 
away IVom precedents and details, and soaring above 
the ilight of eloquence, it saw the forms of truth in 
the colorless light and tranquil air of reason. When 
we dream of intelligences higher than man, we ima- 
gine their faculties exercised in serene inquisitions like, 
tliese, — not spurred by ambition — not kindled by 



EULOGY. 245 

passion — roused by no motive but the love of truth, 
and seeking no reward but the possession of it. 

The respect which has been paid to the decisions of 
the Supreme Court of the United States is one of 
the signs of hope for the future, which are not to be 
overlooked in our desponding moods. The visitor in 
Washington sees a few grave men, in an unpretend- 
ing room, surrounded by none of the symbols of com- 
mand. Some one of them, in a quiet voice, reads an 
opinion in which the conflicting rights of sovereign 
States are weighed and adjusted, and questions, such 
as have generally led to exhausting wars, are settled 
by the light of reason and justice. This judgment 
goes forth, backed by no armed force, but commended 
by the moral and intellectual authority of the tribunal 
wliicli pronounces it. It falls upon the waves of con- 
troversy with reconciling, subduing power; and haughty 
sovereignties, as at the voice of some superior intelli- 
gence, put off the mood of conflict and defiance, and 
yield a graceful obedience to the calm decrees of cen- 
tral justice. There is more cause for national pride 
in the deference paid to the decisions of this august 
tribunal, than in all our material triumphs ; and so 
long as our people are thus loyal to reason and sub- 
missive to law, it is a weakness to despair. -— 
The Dartmouth College case, which has been al- 
ready mentioned, may be briefly referred to again, 
since it forms an important era in Mr. Webster's life. 
His argument in that case stands out among his other 
arguments, as his speech in reply to Mr. Hayne, 
among his other speeches. No better argument has 
been spoken in the English tongue in the memory 



240 AVECSTEll MEMORIAL. 

of any living man, nor is the child that is born to- 
day likely to live to hear a better. Its learning is 
ample, but not ostentatious ; its logic irresistible ; its 
eloquence vigorous and lofty. I have often heard my 
revered and beloved friend, Judge Story, speak with 
great animation of the effect he then produced upon 
the court. " For the first hour," said he, " we listened 
to him with perfect astonishment ; for the second hour, 
with perfect delight ; and for the third hour, with per- 
fect conviction." It is not too much to say that he 
entered the court on that day a comparatively un- 
known name, and left it with no rival but Pinkney. 
All the words he spoke on that occasion have not 
been recorded. When he had exhausted the resources 
of learning and logic, his mind passed naturally and 
simply into a strain of feeling not common to the 
place. Old recollections and early associations came 
over him, and the vision of his youth rose u]). The 
genius of the institution where he was nurtured seem- 
ed standing by his side in weeds of mourning, with 
a countenance of sorrow. With suffused eyes, and fal- 
tering voice, he broke into an unpremeditated strain 
of emotion, so strong and so deep, that all who heard 
him were borne along with it. Heart ansAvered to 
heart as he spoke, and, when he ceased, the silence 
and tears of the impassive Bench, as well as of the 
excited audience, were a tribute to the truth and 
power of the feeling by which he had been inspired. 

With his election to Congress, from the city of Bos- 
ton, in 1822, tlie great labors and triumphs of his 
life begin. From that time until his deatli, with an 
interval of about two years after leaving President 



EULOGY. 247 

Tyler's Cabinet, lie was constantly in the pnblic ser- 
vice, as Representative, Senator, or Secretary of State. 
In this period his biography is included in the history 
of his country. Without pausing to dwell upon de- 
tails, and looking at his public life as a whole, let us 
examine its leading features and guiding principles, 
and inquire upon what grounds he enjoyed our confi- 
dence and admiration, while living, and is entitled to 
our gratitude when dead. 

Public men, in popular governments, are divided 
into two great classes, statesmen and politicians. The 
difference between them is like the diflcrence between 
the artist and the mechanic. The statesman starts 
with original principles, and is propelled by a self- 
derived impulse. The politician has his course to 
choose, and puts himself in a position to make the 
best use of the forces which lie outside of him. The 
statesman's genius sometimes fails in reaching its pro- 
per sphere, from the want of the politician's faculty ; 
and, on the other hand, the politician's intellectual 
poverty is never fully apprehended till he has con- 
trived to attain an elevation which belongs only to 
the statesman. The statesman is often called upon to 
oppose popular opinion, and never is his attitude no- 
])ler than when so doing ; but the sagacity of the 
■politician is shown in seeing, a little before the rest 
of the world, how the stream of popular feeling is 
about to turn, and so throwing himself upon it, as to 
seem to be guiding it, while he is only propelled by 
it. A statesman makes the occasion, but the occasion 
makes the politician. 

Mr. Wel)ster was preeminently a statesman. Pie 



248 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

rested his claims upon principles ; and by these he 
was ready to stand or fall. In looking at the endow- 
ments which he brought to the service of his country, 
a prominent rank is to be assigned to that deep and 
penetrating wisdom which gave so safe a direction to 
his genius. His imagination, his passions, and his 
sympathies, were all kept in subordination to this 
sovereign power. He saw things as they are, neither 
magnified, nor discolored by prejudice or prepossession. 
He heard all sides, and did not insist that a thing 
was true, because he -.wished it to be true, or because 
it seemed probable to his first inquiry. His post of 
observation was the central and fixed light of reason, 
from which all wandering and uncertain elements were 
at last discerned in their just relations and propor- 
tions. The functions of government did not, in his 
view, lie in the region of speculation or emotion. It 
was " a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for 
human wants." The ends of government are, indeed, 
ever identical, but the means used to attain them are 
various. The practical statesman must aim, not at the 
best conceivable, but the best attainable good. Thus, 
Mr. Webster always recognized and accepted the neces- 
sities of his position. He did not hope against hope, 
nor waste his energies in attempting the impossible. 
Living under a government, in which universal suf- 
frage is the ultimate propelling force, he received the 
expressed sense of the people as a fact, and not an 
hypothesis. Like all men who are long in public life, 
under popular institutions, he incurred the reproach 
of inconsistency ; a reproach not resting upon any 
change of principle — for he uever changed his prin- 



EULOGY. 249 

(•iples, — but upon the moclificatiou of me;isures and 
policy which every enlightened statesman yields to 
the inevitable march of events and innovations of 
time. 

Nor was he less remarkable for the breadth and 
comprehensiveness of his views. He knew no North, 
no South, no East, no West. His great mind and 
patriotic heart embraced the wdiole land Avith all its 
interests and all its claims. He had nothing of par- 
tisan narrowness or sectional exclusiveness. His point 
of sight was higli enough to take in all parts of the 
country, and his heart was large enough and warm 
enough to love it all, to cling to it, live for it, or die 
for it. Nothing is more characteristic of greatness 
than this capacity of enlarged and generous affections. 
No public man ever earned more fully the title of a 
national, an American statesman. No heart ever beat 
wdth a higher national spirit than his. The honor of 
his country was as dear to him as the faces of his 
children. Where that was in question, his great powers 
blazed forth like a flame of fire in its defence. Never 
were his words more weighty, his logic more irresisti- 
ble, his eloquence more lofty — never did his mind 
move with more majestic and victorious flight, — than 
w^hen vindicating the rights of his country, or shield- 
ing her from unjust aspersions. 

It is a hasty and mistaken judgment to gauge the 
merits of a statesman, under popular institutions, by 
the results which he brings about and the measures 
which he carries through. His opportunities in this 
respect will 'depend, generally, upon the fact whether 
he happens to be in the majority or the minority. 

32 



250 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

How much would be taken from the greatness of one 
of the greatest of statesmen, Mr. Fox, if this test 
were applied to him. The merits of a statesman are 
to be measured by the good which he does, by the 
evil which he prevents, by the sentiments he breathes 
into the public heart, and the principles he diffuses 
through the public mind. Mr. Webster did not be- 
long to that great political party which, under ordi- 
nary circumstances, and when no exceptional elements 
have been thrown in, have been able to command a 
majority in the wdiole nation, and upon which the re- 
sponsibility of governing the country, has been conse- 
quently thrown. Thus, for the larger part of his public 
life, he was in the minority. But a minority is as im- 
portant an element, in carrying on a representative go- 
vernment, as a majority ; and he never transcended its 
legitimate functions. His opposition was open, manly, 
and conscientious ; never factious, never importunate. 
He stated fairly the arguments to which he rej)lied. 
He did not stoop to personality, or resort to the low^ 
and cheap trick of impugning the motives or charac- 
ters of his opponents. He has therefore fairly earned 
the respect which the democratic party, to their honor 
be it sj^oken, have shown to his memory. He was a 
party man, to this extent — he believed that under a 
popular government, it was expedient that men of 
substantially the same way of thinking in politics 
should act together, in order to accomplish any gene- 
ral good, but he never gave up to his party what 
was meant for his country. "When the turn of the 
tide threw upon him the initiative of measures, no 
man ever showed a wiser spirit of legislation or a 



EULOGY. 251 

mure just and cnliglitencd policy in statesmanship. 
lie combined what Bacon calls the logical Avith the 
mathematical part of the mind, lie could judge well 
of the mode of attaining any end, and estimate, at 
tlie same time, the true value of the end itself. His 
powers were by no means limited to attack and de- 
fence, but he had the organizing and constructing 
mind, Avhich shapes and fits a course of policy to 
the wants and temper of a great people. 

His influence, as a public man, extends over the 
last forty years, and, during that period, what is 
there that does not bear his impress ? Go where we 
will, upon land or sea — from agriculture to com- 
merce, and from commerce to manufactures — turn to 
domestic industry, to foreign relations, to law, educa- 
tion, and religion, — everywhere, we meet the image 
and superscription of this imperial mind. The Ash- 
burton treaty may stand as a monument of the good 
he did. His speech in reply to Mr. llayne may be 
cited as a proof of the evil he prevented ; and, for 
this reason, while its whole effect can never be mea- 
sured, its importance can hardly be overstated. Pro- 
bably no discourse ever spoken by man had a wider, 
more permanent, and more beneficial influence. Not 
only did it completely overthrow a most dangerous 
attack on the Constitution, but it made it impossible 
for the same attack ever to be renewed. From that 
day forward the specious front of nullification was 
branded with treason. If we estimate the claims of 
a public man by his influence upon the national heart, 
and his contributions to a high-toned national senti- 
ment, who shall stand by the side of Mr. Webster? 



252 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

Where is the theory of constitutional liberty better 
expounded, and the rules and conditions of national 
well-being and well-doing better laid down, than in 
his speeches and writings ? What books should we 
so soon put into the hands of an intelligent foreigner, 
who desired to learn the great doctrines of govern- 
ment and administration on which the power and 
progress of our country repose, and to measure the 
intellectual stature of a finished American man ? 

The relation wdiicli he held to the politics of the 
country was the natural result of a mind and tem- 
perament like his. A wise patriot, who understands 
the wants of his time, will throw himself into the 
scale which most needs the w^eight of his influence, 
and choose the side which is best for his country and 
not for himself Hence, it may be his duty to espouse 
defeat and cleave to disappointment. In weighing 
the two elements of law and liberty, as they are min- 
gled in our country, he felt that danger was rather 
to be apprehended from the preponderance of license 
than of authority ; that men were attracted to liberty 
by the powerful instincts of the blood and heart, but 
to law by the colder and fainter suggestions of the 
reason. Hence, he was a conservative at home, and 
gave his influence to the party of permanence rather 
than progression. But in Europe it was different. 
There he saw that there were abuses to be reformed 
and burdens to be removed ; that the principle of 
progress was to be encouraged, and that larger in- 
fusions of liberty should be poured into the exhausted 
frames of decayed states. Hence, his sympathies were 
always on the side of the struggling and the suffer- 



EULOGY. 253 

ing; and, through his powerful voice, the public opi- 
nion of America made itself heard and respected in 
Europe. It is a flict worthy of being stated in this 
connection, that at the moment when a tempest of ob- 
loquy was beating upon him, from his supposed hosti- 
lity to the cause of freedom here, a very able writer 
of the Catholic faith, in a striking and, in many re- 
spects, admirable essay upon his writings and public 
life, came reluctantly and respectfully to the conclu- 
sion that ^Ir. Webster had forfeited all claim to the 
support of Catholic voters, from the countenance he 
liad given to the revolutionary spirit of Europe. Such 
are ever the judgments of fragmentary men upon a 
universal man. 

His strong sense of the value of the Union, and 
the force and frecjuency with which he discoursed 
upon this theme, are to be explained by the same 
traits of mind and character. lie believed that we 
were more in danger of diffusion than consolidation, 
lie felt that all the primal instincts of patriotism — 
all the chords of the heart — bound men to their 
own State, and not to the common Country ; and 
that with the territorial increase of that country, it 
became more and more difficult for the central heart to 
propel to the extremities the life-blood of that invigor- 
ating national sentiment, without which a state is but 
a political corporation without a soul. He knew too, 
that the name of a Union might exist without the 
substance, and that a Union for mutual annoyance 
and defiance, and not for mutual aid and support, 
which kept the word of promise to the ear and broke 
it to the hope, was hardly worth the having. Hence, 



254 -PTIBSTER MEMORIAL. 

he labored earnestly and perseveringly to inculcate a 
lore of the Union, and to present the whole conntry 
as an object to be cherished, honored and ralued, be- 
cause he felt that on that side our affections needed 
to be quickened and sti'engthened. 

As was to be expected, so powerful a man could 
not pass through life without encountering strong op- 
position. All his previous experiences, however, were 
inconsiderable in comparison with the storm of denun- 
ciation which he drew down upon himself by his 
course on what are commonly called the compromise 
measures, and, especially, his speech on that occasion. 
It was natural that men, whose fervid s^Tupathies are 
wedded to a single idea, should have felt aggrieved 
by the stand he then took ; and if decency and deco- 
rum had governed their expressions, neither he nor his 
friends could have had any right to complain. But, 
in many cases, the attacks were so foul and ferocious 
that they lost all claim to be treated as moral judg- 
ments, and sunk to the level of the lowest and coars- 
est effusions of malice and hatred. It is a good rule 
in politics, as elsewhere, to give men credit for the 
motives they profess to be actuated by, and to accept 
their own exposition of their opinions as true. Let 
us apply these rules to his course at that time. He 
had opposed the admission of Texas, and predicted the 
train of evils which would come with it. He had 
warned the North of the perilous questions with which 
that measure was fraught. But his prophetic voice 
was unheeded. Between zeal on one side, and apathy 
on the other, Texas came in. Then war with Mexico 
followed, ending in conquest, and leaving the whole 



EULOGY. 255 

of that unhappy country at our mercy. ^Mr. Webster 
opposed the dismemherment of Mexico, provided for in 
the treaty of peace, on the ground that no sooner 
shoukl we have the immense territory which we pro- 
posed to take, than the question whether slavery should 
exist there, would agitate the country. But again the 
warning voice of his wisdom was unheeded, and the 
storm, which he had predicted, gathered in the hea- 
vens. The questions against which he had forewarned 
his countrymen now clamored for settlement, and would 
not be i)ut by. They required for their adjustment 
the most of reason and the least of passion, and they 
were met in a mood which combined the most of pas- 
sion and the least of reason. The North and the South 
met in " angry parle," and the air was darkened with 
their strife. ]Mr. Webster's prophetic spirit was heavy 
within him. lie felt that a crisis had arrived in the 
history of his country, and that the lot of a solemn 
duty and a stern self-sacrifice had fallen upon him. 
As he himself said, " he had made up his mind to 
embark alone on what he was aware would prove a 
stormy sea, because, in that case, should disaster ensue, 
there would be but one life lost." In this mood of 
calm and high resolve he went forward to meet the 
portentous issue. 

It is not to be expected that a speech, made under 
such circumstances, going over so wide a range of ex- 
citing topics, should, in every part, command the imme- 
diate and entke assent even of those who would admit 
its truth and seasonableness as a whole. It is also 
doubtless true, that there are single expressions in it 
Avhich, when torn from their context, and set by the 



256 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

side of passages from former speeches, dealt with in 
like manner, Avill not be found absolutely identical. 
But the speech of such a man, at such a crisis, is not 
to be dissected and criticized like a rhetorical exer- 
cise. It should be judged as a whole, and read by 
the light of the occasion which gave it birth. 

The judgments which Mr. Webster's course has 
called forth, were widely diverse. By those who hold 
extreme views, he was charged with expressing senti- 
ments which he did not believe to be true. It was 
" a bid for the Presidency," and his conscience was 
the price he offered. It is a mere waste of w^ords to 
argue with men of this class. Fanaticism darkens the 
mind and hardens the heart, and where there is neither 
common sense nor common charity, the first step in a 
process of reasoning cannot be taken. Others main- 
tained that he was mistaken in point of fact, that he 
took counsel of his fears and not of his wisdom, and, 
that through him, the opportunity was lost of putting- 
down the South in an open struggle for influence and 
power. But, in the first place, it is not probable that 
a man, who, upon subordinate cpiestions, had shown 
so much political wisdom and forecast, should have 
been mistaken upon a point of such transcendent im- 
portance, to which his attention had been so long and 
so earnestly directed ; and, in the second place, the 
testimony of nearly all men, whose evidence would be 
received with respect upon any similar subject, fully 
sustains Mr. Webster in the views he then took of 
the state of the country, and is equally strong as to 
the value of the services he rendered. In such an 
issue, the testimony of retired persons, living among 



EULOGY. 257 

books and their own thoughts, is not entitled to any 
great value, because they can have no adequate notion 
of the duties, responsibilities, or difficulties of govern- 
ing a great State, and wliat need there is of patience 
and denunciation in those who are called to this hiiih- 
est of human functions. A statesman has the right to 
be tried by his peers. 

It is curious to observe how hatred, wdiether per- 
sonal or political, when it enters into the mind, dis- 
turbs its functions, as a piece of iron, in the binnacle 
of a ship, misleads the compass. Many, wdio have 
found it so hard to forgive Mr. Webster for his inde- 
pendence in opposing them, w^ould admit the import- 
ance of having a class of public men, who will lead 
the people and not be led by them, and that a great 
man is never so great, as when withstanding their 
dangerous wishes, and calmly braving their anger. 
Their eyes will sparkle when they speak of the neu- 
tral countenance of Washington, undismayed by jaco- 
bin clamor, and of the sublime self-devotion of Jay. 
It is strange that they cannot, or w^ill not, for a mo- 
ment, look at ]Mr. AVebster's position from a point of 
view opposite to their own, admit that he may have 
been in the right, and see him clad in the beauty of 
self-sacrifice. It is to be feared that this form of 
virtue is growing more and more rare, as it is more 
and more needed. The story of Curtius leaping into 
a gulf in the Roman Forum, in order to save his 
country, is but the legendary form in which a per- 
petual truth is clothed. In the path of time there 
are always chasms of error w^hich only a great self- 
immolating victim can close. The glory has departed 

.'5.1 



258 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

from the land in which that self-clevoting stock has 
died out. 

Mr. Webster Avas an ambitious man. He desired 
the highest office in the gift of the people. But on 
this subject, as on all others, there was no conceal- 
ment in his nature. And ambition is not a weakness, 
unless it be disproportioned to the capacity. To have 
more ambition than ability is to be at once weak and 
unhappy. With him it was a noble passion, because 
it rested upon noble powers. He was a man cast in 
a heroic mould. His thoughts, his wishes, his passions, 
his aspirations, were all on a grander scale than those 
of other men. Unexercised capacity is always a source 
of rusting discontent. The height to which men may 
'rise is in proportion to the upward force of their 
genius, and they will never be calm till they have 
attained their predestined elevation. Lord Bacon says, 
" as in nature things move violently to their place, and 
calmly in their place, so virtue in ambition is violent, 
in authority, settled and calm." INIr. Webster had a 
giant's brain and a giant's heart, and he wanted a 
giant's work. He found repose in those strong con- 
flicts and great duties, which crush the weak and 
madden the sensitive. He thought that, if he were 
elevated to the highest place, he should so administer 
the government as to make the country honored 
abroad, and great and happy at home. He thought, 
too, that he could do something to make us more 
truly one people. This, above every thing else, was 
his ambition. And we, who knew him better than 
others, felt that it was a prophetic ambition, and we 
honored and trusted him accordingly. 



EULOGY. 259 

As a writer, and as a public speaker, upon the great 
interests of his country, Mr. Webster stands before us, 
and will stand before those who come after us, as 
the leading spirit of his time. Sometimes, indeed, his 
discussions may have been too grave to be entirely 
eftective, at the moment of their delivery, but all of 
tliem are quarries of political wisdom ; for while others 
have solved only the particular problem before them, 
he has given the rule that reaches all of the same 
class. As a general remark, his speeches are a strik- 
ing combination of immediate effectiveness and endur- 
ing worth. He never, indeed, goes out of his way for 
l^hilosophical observations, nor lingers long in the 
tempting regions of speculation, but his mind, while 
he advances straight to his main object, drops from its 
abundant stores those words of wisdom which will keep 
tlnough all time a vital and germinating power. His 
logic is vigorous and compact, but there is no difl&- 
culty in following his argument, because liis reasoning 
is as clear as it is strong. The leading impression he 
leaves upon the mind, is that of irresistible weight. 
AVe are conscious of a propelling power, before which 
every thing gives way or goes down. The hand of a 
giant is upon us, and we feel that it is in vain to 
struggle. The eloquence of Burke, with whom he is 
always most fitly compared, is like a broad river, 
winding through a cultivated landscape; that of Mr. 
Webster, is like a clear mountain stream, compressed 
between walls of rock. 

But his claims as a writer do not rest exclusively 
upon his political speeches. His occasional discourses, 
and his diplomatic writings, would alone make a great 



260 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

reputation. His occasional discourses rise above the 
rest of their class, as the Bunker Hill Monument soars 
above the objects around it. His Plymouth oration, 
especially, is a production which all, who have follow- 
ed in the same path, must ever look upon with admi- 
ration, and despair. It was the beginning of a new 
era in that department of literature. It was the first 
and greatest of its class; and has naturally fixed a 
standard of excellence which has been felt in the 
efforts of all who have come after him. Its merits of 
style and treatment are of the highest order, and it 
is marked throughout by that dignity of sentiment 
and that elevating and stirring tone of moral feeling 
which lift the mind into regions higher than can be 
reached by eloquence alone. 

His diplomatic writings claim unqualified praise. 
Such discussions require a cautious as well as firm 
hand; for a single rash expression, falling upon an 
explosive state of mind, may shatter to pieces the 
most hopeful negotiation. Mr. Webster combines great 
force of statement with perfect decorum of manner. 
It is the iron hand, but the silken glove. He nei- 
ther claims nor yields a single inch beyond the right. 
His attitude is neither aggressive nor distrustful. He 
is strong in himself, and strong in his position. His 
style is noble, dignified, and transparent. It is the 
"large utterance" of a great people. I know of no 
modern compositions which, in form and substance, 
embody so much of what we understand by the epi- 
thet, Roman. Such, indeed, we may imagine the state 
papers of the Roman Senate to have been, in the 
best days of the Republic. 



EULOGY. 261 

Ilis arguiiieiits, speeches, occasional discourses, and 
diplomatic writings, have all a marked family likeness. 
They are all characterized by strength and simplicity. 
lie never goes out of his way to make a point or 
drag in an illustration. His ornaments, sparingly in- 
troduced, are of that pure gold, which defies the 
sharpest test of criticism. lie had more of imagina- 
tion, properly so called, than fancy, and his images 
are more grand than picturesque. He writes like a 
ni.in wlio is thinking of his subject, and not of his 
style, and thus wastes no time upon the mere garb 
of Ins thoughts. Uis mind was so full, that epithet 
and illustration grew with his words, like flowers on 
tlie stalk. It is a striking fact, that a man who has 
had so great an influence over the mind of America, 
should have been so free from our national defects; 
our love of exaggeration, and our excessive use of 
figurative language. His style is Doric, not Corin- 
thian. His sentences are like shafts hewn from the 
granite of his own hills — simple, massive, and strong. 
We may apply to him what Quinctilian says of Cicero, 
that a relish for his writings is itself a mark of good 
taste. He is always plain; sometimes even homely 
and unfinished. But a great writer may be, and in- 
deed must be, homely and unfinished at times. Deal- 
ing with great subjects, he must vary his manner. 
Some things he will put in the foreground, find some 
in the background; some in light, and some in sha- 
dow. He will not hesitate, therefore, to say plain 
things in a plain way. When the glow and impulse 
of his genius are upon him, he will not stop to adjust 
every fold in his mantle. His writings will leave 



262 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

upon the mind an effect, like that of the natural 
landscape upon the eye, where nothing is trim and 
formal, but where all the sweeps and swells, though 
rarely conforming to an ideal line of beauty, blend 
together in a general impression of grace, fertility, 
and power. 

His knowledge of law, politics, and government Avas 
profound, various, and exact; but a man of learning, 
in the sense in which this word is commonly used, 
he could not be called. His life had been too busy 
to leave much time for prolonged scientific or literary 
research; nor had he that passionate love of books 
which made him content to pass all his leisure hours 
in his library. He had read much, but not many 
books. He was a better Latin scholar than the ave- 
rage of our educated men, and he read the Roman 
authors, to the last, with discriminating relish. A 
mind like his was naturally drawn to the grand and 
stately march of Roman genius. With the best Eng- 
lish writers he was entirely flimiliar, and he took great 
pleasure in reading them, and discussing their merits. 

To science, as recorded in books, he had given little 
time, but he had the faculties and organization which 
would easily have made him a man of science. He 
had the senses of an Indian hunter. Of the know- 
ledge that is gathered by observation — as of the 
names and properties of plants, the song and plumage 
of birds, and the forms and growth of trees — he had 
much more than most men of his class. His eye was 
as accurate as his mind was discriminating. Never 
was his conversation more interesting than when 
speaking of natural objects and natural phenomena. 



EULOGY. 263 

His wiiids li;i(l tlie freshness of morning, and seemed 
to brinji with them the breezes of the hills and the 
IVa^ranee of spring. 

.Mr. Webster, Itoth as a writer and a speaker, was 
uiKMjual, and from tlie natnre of his mind and tem- 
peraniont, it oonld not be otherwise. He ^vas not of 
an excitable organization, and felt no nervous anxiety 
lest he should fall below the standard of expectation 
laised by previous efforts. Ilence, he was swayed by 
tin' mood, mental or physical, in which each occasion 
found him. lie required a great subject, or a great 
antagonist, to call forth all his slumbering power. At 
times, he looked and spoke almost like a superhuman 
creature ; at others, he seemed but the faint reflex of 
himself His words fell slowly and heavily from his 
lips, as if each cost him a distinct eflbrt. The influ- 
ence, therefore, which he had over popular assemblies, 
was partly owing to his great w^eight of character. 

11(3 had strong out-of-door tastes, and they contri- 
Ituted to the health of his body and mind. He was 
a keen spoi-tsman, and a lover of the mountains and 
the sea. His heart warmed to a fine tree as to the 
face of a friend. He had that fondness for agricul- 
ture and rural })ursuits so common among statesmen. 
Herein the grand scale of the whole man gave direc- 
tion and character to his tastes. He did not care for 
minute finish and completeness on a limited scale. 
He had no love for trim gardens and formal pleasure 
grounds. His wishes clasped the whole landscape. 
He liked to see broad fields of clover, with the morn- 
ing dew upon them, yellow waves of grain, heaving 
and rolling in the sun, and great cattle lying down 



264 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

ill the shade of great trees. He liked to hear the 
whetting of the mower's scythe, the loud beat of the 
thresher's flail, and the heavy groan of loaded wagons. 
The smell of the new-mown hay, and of the freshly- 
turned furrows in spring, was cordial to his spirit. 
He took especial pleasure in all forms of animal life, 
and his heart was glad wdien his cattle lifted up their 
large-eyed, contemplative faces, and recognized their 
lord by a look. 

His mental powers were commended by a remark- 
able personal appearance. He was probably the grand- 
est looking man of his time. Wherever he went, men 
turned to gaze at him ; and he could not enter a 
room without having every eye fastened upon him. 
His face was very striking, both in form and color. 
His brow was to common brows, what the great dome 
of St. Peters is to the smaller cupolas at its side. 
The eyebrow, the eye, and the dark and deep socket 
in which it glowed, were full of power; but the great 
expression of his face lay in the mouth. This was 
the most speaking and flexible of features, moulded 
by every mood of feeling, from iron severity to the 
most captivating sweetness. His countenance changed 
from sternness to softness with magical rapidity. His 
smile was beaming, warming, fascinating; lighting up 
his whole face like a sudden sunrise. His voice was 
rich, deep, and strong; filling the largest space with- 
out effort, capable of most startling and impressive 
tones, and, when under excitement, rising and swelling 
into a volume of sound, like the roar of a tempest. 
His action was simple and dignified ; and in his ani- 
mated moods, highly expressive. Those of us who 



EULOGY. 265 

recall his presence as he stood up here to speak, in 
the pride and strength of his manhood, have formed 
from his words, looks, tones, and action, an ideal 
standard of physical and intellectual power, which we 
never expect to see approached, but by wliich we 
unconsciously try, not only the greatness we meet, 
but that of which we read. 

lie was a man more known and admired than un- 
derstood. His great qualities were conspicuous from 
afar ; but that part of his nature, which he shared 
with other men, was apprehended by comparatively 
few. His manners did not always do him justice. 
For many years of his life, great burdens rested upon 
him, and, at times, his cares and thoughts settled 
down darkly upon his spirit, and he was then a man 
of an awful presence. He required to be loved before 
he could be known. He, indeed, grappled his friends 
to him with hooks of steel, but he did not always 
conciliate those who were not his Mends. He had a 
lofty spirit, which could not stoop or dissemble. He 
could neither affect what he did not feel, nor desire 
to conceal what he did. His wishes clung with tena- 
cious hold to every thing they grasped, and from 
those who stood, or seemed to stand, in his way, his 
countenance was averted. Some, who were not unwil- 
ling to become his friends, were changed by his man- 
ner into foes. He was social in his nature, but not 
facile. He was seen to the best advantage among a 
few old and tried friends, especially in his own home. 
Then his spirits rose, his countenance expanded, and 
he looked and moved like a school-boy on a holiday. 
Conscious that no unfriendly ear was listening to him, 

34 



266 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

his conversation became easy, playful, and natural. 
His memory was richly stored with characteristic anec- 
dotes, and with amusing reminiscences of his own 
early life, and of the men who were conspicuous when 
he was young, all of which he narrated with an ad- 
mirable mixture of dignity and grace. Those who 
saw him in these hours of social ease, with his armor 
off, and the current of his thoughts turning, gently 
and gracefully, to chance topics and familiar themes, 
could hardly believe that he was the same man who 
Avas so reserved and austere in public. 

But it may be asked, had this great man no faults ? 
Surelv he had. No man liveth, and sinneth not. There 
were veins of human imperfection running through his 
large heart and large brain. But neither men, nor 
the works of men, should be judged by their defects. 
Like all eminent persons he fell upon evil tongues ; 
but those who best knew his private life, most honor- 
ed, venerated, and loved him. 

He was a man of strong religious feeling. For 
theological speculations he had little taste, but he had 
reflected deeply on the relations between God and the 
human soul, and his heart was penetrated with a de- 
votional spirit. He had been, from his youth upwards, 
a diligent student of the Scriptures, and few men, 
whether clergymen or laymen, were more familiar with 
their teachings and their language. He had a great 
reverence for the very words of the Bible, and never 
used them in any light or trivial connection. He 
never avoided the subjects of life, death, and immor- 
tality, and when he spoke of them, it was with un- 
usual depth of feeling and impressiveness of manner. 



EULOGY. 267 

Within tlif lust few months of his life, his thoughts 
and speech were ofteu turned upon such themes. He 
felt that he was an old man, and that it became him 
to set his house in order. On the eighteenth day of 
January last, he had completed the threescore and 
ten years, which are man's allotted portion, and yet 
his eye was not dim, nor his natural force much 
abated. lUit he grew weaker with the approach of 
summer, and his looks and voice, when he last ad- 
dressed us from this place, a few months ago, forced 
upon us the mournful reflection that tliis great light 
must soon sink below the horizon. But yet, when 
the news came that tlie hand of death was upon him, 
it startled us like a sudden blow, for he was become 
so important to us, that we could not look steadily 
at the thought of losing him. You remember what a 
sorrow it was that settled down upon our city. The 
common business of life dragged heavily with us in 
those days. There was but one expression on the 
faces of men, and but one question on their lips. 
AVe listened to the tidings which came up, hour after 
hour, from his distant chamber, as men upon the 
shore in a night of storm, listen to the minute-guns 
of a sinking ship, freighted \\-ith the treasures of 
their hearts. The grief of the people was eager for 
the minutest details of his closing hours, and he died 
with his country around his bed. Of the beauty and 
grandeur of that death I need not speak to you, for 
it is fixed in your memories and deep in your hearts. 
It fell upon the whole land like a voice from Heaven. 
He died calmly, simply, and bravely. He was neither 
weary of life, nor afraid of death. He died like a hus- 



268 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

band, a father, a friend, a Christian, and a man; with 
thoughtful tenderness for all around him, and a trem- 
bling faith in the mercy of God. He was not tried 
by long and hopeless suffering j nor were his friends 
saddened by seeing the spirit darkened before it was 
released. His mind, like a setting sun, seemed largest 
at the closino' hour. Such a death narrows the dark 
valley to a span. Such is a midsummer's day at the 
poles, where sunset melts into sunrise, and the last 
ray of evening is caught up and appears once more 
as the first beam of the new morning. 

I should not feel that my duty had been wholly 
discharged, did I not speak of the touching simplicity 
and solemnity of his funeral. In his Avill, made a few 
days before his death, he says, " I wish to be buried 
without the least show or ostentation, but in a man- 
ner respectful to my neighbors, whose kindness has 
contributed so much to the happiness of me and 
mine, and for whose prosperity I offer sincere prayers 
to God." His wishes were fliithfully observed, and, 
in the arrangements for his funeral, there was no re- 
cognition of Avorldly distinction or official rank. He 
was buried simply as the head of a household, after 
the manner of New England. But the immense 
crowds which were there, drawn from all parts of the 
land by their own veneration and love, formed an 
element of impressiveness far above all civic pa- 
geantry or military honors. Who, that was there pre- 
sent, will ever forget the scene on which fell the 
rich light of that soft autumnal day. There was the 
landscape, so stamped with his image and identified 
with his presence. There were the trees he had 



EULOGY. 269 

planted, the fields over which he had delighted to 
walk, and the ocean whose waves were music to liis 
ear. There was the house, with its hospitable door ; 
hut the stately form of its master did not stand 
there, with outstretched hand, and smile of welcome. 
That smile had vanished forever from the earth, and 
the liand and form were silent, cold, and motionless. 
The dignity of life had given place to the dignity of 
death. No narrow chamljcr held that illustrious dust; 
no collin concealed that majestic frame. In tlie open 
air, clad as when alive, he lay extended in seeming 
sleep ; with no touch of disfeature upon his brow ; as 
noble an image of reposing strength as ever was seen 
upon earth. Around him was the landscape that he 
had loved, and above him was nothing but the dome 
of the covering heavens. The sunshine fell upon the 
dead man's fice, and the breeze blow over it. A 
lover of nature, he seemed to be gathered into her 
maternal arms, and to lie like a child upon a mother's 
lap. We felt, as we looked upon him, that death had 
never stricken down, at one blow, a greater sum of 
life. And whose heart did not swell, when, from the 
honored and distinguished men there gathered toge- 
ther from far and near, six plain Marshfield farmers 
were called forth to carry the head of their neighbor 
to the grave ! Slowly and sadly the vast multitude 
followed, in mourning silence, and he was laid down 
to rest among dear and kindred dust.. There, among 
the scenes that he loved in life, he sleeps well. He 
has left his name and memory to dwell forever upon 
those hills and valleys, to breathe a more spiritual 
tone into the winds that blow over his grave, to 



270 WEBSTER MEMORIAL. 

touch with finer light the line of the breaking wave, 

to throw a more solemn beauty upon the hues of * 

autumn and the shadows of twilight. 

But though his mortal form is there, his spirit is 
here. His words are wTitten in living light along 
these walls. May that spirit rest upon us and our 
children ! May those words live in our hearts, and 
the hearts of those who come after us ! May we 
honor his memory, and show our gratitude for his 
life, by taking heed to his counsels, and walking in 
the way on which the light of his wisdom shines ! 



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